Lisa Riley rehearsed her ‘Emmerdale’ lockdown episode with co-star Bradley Johnson via FaceTime.
The 43-year-old star – who portrays Mandy Dingle – is one of a selection of the ITV soap’s cast members who have shot special episodes amid the coronavirus pandemic, and she and on-screen son Bradley Johnson (Vinny Ashdale) have made Dales history by learning their two-hander lines via video call.
Asked if it was tough to learn the script due to the amount of dialogue, she said: "I am really on it as I like to really learn my lines well, I do that anyway. For this episode – well obviously it’s a hell of a lot to learn but I’m really on top of it.
"The brilliant thing, which is a first in all of our ‘Emmerdale’ history, is that we are rehearsing on FaceTime. So Brad and I are doing 40 minutes to an hour of rehearsal every day over FaceTime, where we bash out the lines together and it’s invaluable as we are finding little nuances in the script – we don’t normally get that opportunity so I think that makes it even more special."
‘Emmerdale’ crew members had a two-metre bamboo stick on set to ensure the stars abided by social distancing guidelines during filming, and Lisa admitted it was "enormously helpful" to have more time than usual to rehearse a script.
She said: "Do you know what is so brilliant for me with this is that as an actress we learn this as our craft when you are training and it really does stick with you.
"It is not just the line learning, but the visualisation of the moves from the rehearsal room. With our normal filming process we don’t have time to have a rehearsal day or a block through in a rehearsal room, but for this we have so when I’m now preparing for it I can visualise my moves that we blocked during the rehearsal day. It has been enormously helpful and so amazing.
"Another difference with filming is the reduced crew members and the bamboo stick! We have a 2 meter stick on set to stop us getting too close to each other.
"What was lovely after the rehearsal time was that I got to visualise my words as I now know what I was going to be doing on each line. That honestly has helped me so much as I’m painting a picture in my head."
The special ep will see Mandy and Vinny locked down in the salon, and she will reveal a huge "bomb" of a 15-year secret.
Lisa added: "I absolutely love the story we are telling in this episode as Mandy has a 15-year-old secret that is the big ‘bomb’ of the episode.
"She has been sitting on this for so long and things will suddenly make so much sense. I can’t wait to play this out and it will have huge repercussions going forward."