The Next Scary Step...

We ask stars Zoë Henry, Jonathan Wrather and Emmerdale boss Iain MacLeod about what’s coming up in the BAFTA-winning soap

 

- Alison Slade

While the fictional world of soap is awash with doom and gloom, the very real place that is the Emmerdale studios in Leeds is anything but.

Having already scooped the National Television Award for Best Serial Drama earlier this year, the programme’s cast and crew are walking on air after their recent triumph at the BAFTAs. And, at this Saturday’s British Soap Awards (see feature on pages 8 & 9), they could well do the treble.

‘There’s always a lovely buzz around the building, but there’s a particular fizzy buzz at the moment,’ smiles Zoë Henry, who plays Rhona Goskirk. ‘Mark Charnock [who plays Marlon] and I were filming in the village recently and had our picture taken, holding the BAFTA in front of the Emmerdale sign.

‘It feels tremendous, and it’s a testament to not only all the people who work here currently, but all the people who have come and gone in the last 10 years, because the show is a work in progress.’

Indeed it is, which is why, after a glass or two of bubbly, it was back to work the following morning.

And as we move into summer, the big plot set to have viewers talking is the next chapter of the controversial story that has seen Rhona raped by husband Pierce.

Next week, as Rhona returns to the village after receiving treatment for painkiller addiction, she’s horrified to see her husband also arrive back – a discovery that prompts her to finally name him to the police as her attacker.