THE FAMILY WAY: 'THEY DON'T GET THE ACTING FROM US!'
OK! UK|December 18, 2023
Meet The Flanagans - mum Rachel, dad Chris, and their three soap star children Amelia, Will and Bella
MITYA UNDERWOOD
THE FAMILY WAY: 'THEY DON'T GET THE ACTING FROM US!'

It's 5pm on a cold Monday afternoon and Rachel Flanagan is prepping her three children's school bags and handing out scripts for Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

While much of the family's life in their Yorkshire home is very normal, all three kids - Amelia, 15, and twins Will and Bella, 12 - are also actors in two of the country's biggest soaps.

"Every week is completely different and there are a lot of blackboards in our house," Rachel, 39, tells us. "The kids can work anything from zero to five days a week. So multiplied by three, that's a lot to manage!"

Rachel and husband Chris, 39, who live near Leeds, spend much of their time ferrying the children from school to the Emmerdale and Corrie sets. Today's exclusive shoot with OK! is a rare full day for the couple to enjoy with their now famous offspring.

Amelia joined Emmerdale when she was just five, playing April Windsor, the daughter of Donna Windsor and Marlon Dingle. Almost four years later, younger siblings Will and Bella were cast in Coronation Street playing cousins Joseph Brown and Hope Dobbs.

"We're big soap lovers but they don't get the acting from us, they all just genuinely love it," Rachel says. "We love that they all play such different roles. It's hard to find a good part for a young actor but they've all got brilliant, brilliant characters - who are very different to them in real life!"

Here Rachel, Chris, who works as a store manager for TK Maxx, and the children give us an insight into life in what has to be one of the busiest households in Yorkshire... 

Can you believe you’ve got three kids in two soaps?

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