Lisa Riley admitted it is "horrible" she cannot attend her late uncle’s funeral after he passed away from coronavirus.
The ‘Emmerdale’ actress revealed two weeks ago that her Uncle Bert had died aged 104, and has now said that while she isn’t able to pay her respects to her relative in the coming days, she is planning a family BBQ when lockdown is over.
She said: "My beautiful uncle Burt, he was 104. He had a bad fall at home and went into hospital. Unfortunately he is one of the statistics, but what a life to celebrate.
"Its horrible we can’t go to the funeral, but I was on the phone to my auntie Eleanor and I said, ‘What was one of uncle Burt’s favourite things?’ It was his family BBQs.
"When all this is all over we hope to get together, have a BBQ and play all his Frank Sinatra favourites and sing like uncle Burt would have done."
Lisa also revealed her 69-year-old father is in the "high risk category" of contracting COVID-19.
She said: "My dad is 70 in May. He has type two diabetes, he’s high risk. I want to stay connected."
The 43-year-old actress – who plays Mandy Dingle on the ITV soap – is missing being on the ‘Emmerdale’ set and spending time with her co-stars, but she has been speaking to Bradley Johnson (Vinny) and Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle), among others, via video call.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’, she added: "I see Brad more than I see my other half in a day.
"And that’s weird but they are my family. We just want to get back to our farm really."
Tonight’s (15.04.20) ‘Emmerdale’ will see Reece Dinsdale finally make his debut after it was delayed as a result of the soap’s reduced schedule, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Reece has joined the ITV soap as Paul Ashdale – the former partner of Mandy and father of Vinny – after a successful directing stint on the show.
Last week, he wrote on Twitter: "For those of you remotely interested… I was meant to be making my #Emmerdale debut this evening but, with the reduced weekly output, I’m led to believe it may be next Wednesday (April 15th?) instead.
"I’ll keep you posted. (sic)"
Lisa Riley: It’s horrible I cannot attend my uncle’s funeral
