Emma Atkins has realised how "amazing" Emmerdale’s writers are after being handed her recent sexual abuse storyline.
Despite the dark plot, which has seen the 43-year-old actress’ character Charity Dingle reveal she was groomed and sexually assaulted by DI Mark Bails (Rocky Marshall) in her youth, Emma has enjoyed finding out why her alter-ego is "such a pain", and is impressed with the soap’s creative team.
She said: "It’s quite a wonderful thing understanding why she’s such a pain.
"When I got the synopsis I knew she had an illustrious past and she’d done some awful things and been very attached to being a lady of the night.
"I knew that would probably be revisited at some point but I didn’t know when.
"Three years ago I worked with DI Bails and they said there might be some dark past they’re going to explore and they’ve done it.
"I started in 2000. Given the storyline like this it’s made me realise how bloody amazing the writers are, the producer, the directors.
"It just shows you what an amazing team of people it is."
Emma’s co-star Michelle Hardwick – who plays her on/off lover Vanessa Woodfield – had to recently learn one of her lines "so well" because it came after pages of Emma’s work and she was so worried about ruining the scene for her fellow Dales resident.
She said: "I remember getting the scripts and I remember there was one scene which was literally just Charity and it was monologue after monologue.
"Near the end it was one line, which was Vanessa. And when I first read it I thought, ‘If I muck that line up right at the end …’ Because she’s going to be in such a place and the concentration.
"But I learnt it so well, it was four words or something."
Speaking in a joint interview on ‘This Morning’, Emma added: "You were brilliant. I think the pressure is on the one with the one line at the end."
Emma Atkins praises Emmerdale’s ‘amazing’ scriptwriters
