Will Mandy And Paddy Get Back Together?

As Emmerdale approaches its 50th anniversary we find out what it means to play one of its most iconic characters...

As far as actresses go, Lisa Riley is soap royalty. She has played feisty Mandy Dingle for almost three decades, and has an impressive number of marriages, food fights, and break-ups under her belt.

The soap is currently gearing up to mark its 50th anniversary next month with a major natural disaster that will change the villagers' lives forever - Mandy included.

"It's amazing to celebrate 50 years," beams Lisa, speaking to us on the set of Emmerdale in the Harewood Estate in Yorkshire. "I'm the longest serving Dingle female and I'm so proud. I look at the show and the clump in the middleI genuinely feel like I never left. I feel so cemented in the show."

The "clump in the middle" is the 18-year gap that followed her 2001 departure from the soap, when she decided to pursue other opportunities after seven years on the show. Producers wrote her departure into the script as one of the most dramatic storylines of the year that saw one of the soap's most loved couples fall apart. After moving away to help care for her sick father Caleb, Lisa had an affair, spelling an end to Mandy and Paddy.

The storyline culminated in Emmerdale's first ever episode to feature only two characters, which saw Mandy leave the Dales for almost two decades.