‘Lockdown made me miss MY MUM'

Emmerdale star Lisa Riley opens up on what life in isolation has taught her

- SUE CRAWFORD

Even though it’s two years since Lisa Riley got engaged to her fiancé Al, the couple have never been in any rush to walk down the aisle. However, that nearly changed during lockdown, when they decided they were getting on so well it felt like the right time to make things official.

‘I’m normally a real workaholic, so the time we had together was absolute bliss,’ enthuses 43-year-old Lisa, best known as a former Loose Women panellist or as Emmerdale’s larger-than-life Mandy Dingle. ‘We were getting on so brilliantly we were thinking of having a lockdown wedding!

‘I saw that somebody had got married via webcam during lockdown and we spoke about it and thought “why not?”.

‘It saves so much hassle and money. You don’t need to bother about a dress, I could just wear my Sweaty Betty tracksuit and you don’t have to invite people you don’t want there. If lockdown had gone on longer we’d have probably done it. Most likely now we’ll go to New York next year, and come back married and have a huge party. A big wedding is not really me.’