One of the first things we notice about Emmerdale co-stars Emma Atkins and Lucy Pargeter is that they couldn’t be more different to their soap characters, Charity and Chas Dingle.
The two happily share in-jokes and discuss how to manage joint childcare for their children – Lucy, 45, has daughter Lola, 16, and five-year-old twins Betsy and Missy, while Emma, 47, has son Albert, seven.
“We’re each other’s rock,” Emma explains. “There’s an innate trust, an authenticity there. We make each other laugh, and we’ve never not enjoyed working together.”
Emma and Lucy have played cousins in the Dales for almost 20 years and it’s clear they’re like family in real life, too.
“When the cameras stop rolling our relationship is exactly the same, we know each other so well,” Lucy tells us. “We feel exactly the same age as we were when we first joined. That’s why we’re quite juvenile!”
Recently on Emmerdale, Emma and Lucy’s characters had a huge falling out after it was revealed that Charity had bought The Woolpack pub at auction from Chas – with the pair even having a food fight.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth for them in real life, as Emma tells us, “We’ve never fallen out. There’s a brilliant connection that you can’t put a price on.”
The duo have been there for each other off-screen, as well, even sharing childcare as their children go to the same school.
“If we can help each other, we will. It just goes without saying when you have a friendship where you work together, spend time together and your kids go to the same school – you pull together,” Emma says.
And their children support each other at school, too. “They know who to go to and the girls are always saying, if anything happens, they’ll go and find Albert,” adds Emma.
“Albert will come home and go, ‘I waved at Missy and Betsy today. I saw them playing and I waved and went over.’ That feels so gorgeous to hear that they’re looking out for each other.”
It’s obvious that family comes first, as Emma reveals they often watch videos of Lucy’s daughters while filming the soap. They are also fiercely protective of their privacy, choosing not to share details of their personal lives and family on social media. “Our privacy is everything,” Emma explains.
Lucy adds, “The young ones have no idea about what I do for a job, and they don’t necessarily need to. As long as I’m providing for them, they don’t need to be a part of that madness.”
The stars understandably want to protect their privacy, particularly after Lucy tells us about a “weird” time when a fan asked for a photo of her only moments after she had her twins in 2017, which leaves a stunned Emma with her hands over her mouth.
“I was being wheeled from just having a Caesarean section down the hospital with my girls in my arms and somebody asked for a picture,” Lucy explains.
“I’d just come off the operating table with my newborn twins, looking like death and somebody asked if it was alright if they had a picture. I said, ‘Well, it’s not really appropriate,’ and he went, ‘It’s OK, I’ll just take one of you.’ That was a bit weird and inappropriate.”
However, there have been some humorous moments for Emma and Lucy while they try to navigate their careers on-screen as well as motherhood off-screen.
Emma recalls, “The other day Albert was desperate for a magazine. He said, ‘Mummy, Mummy, can I get a magazine?’ I said, ‘Just wait, be patient.’ Eventually, we got to the aisle and he ran down and went, ‘You! It’s you, you’re there!’
“I was like, ‘Albert, shut up, it’s fine.’ There were people looking. I know it’s part of the job but I often forget and then suddenly think, ‘That is a bit crazy.’ I didn’t even know I would be on there [the magazine] because I’m sometimes not aware of storylines because I’m too busy being a mum. You lose track.”
While Lucy adds, “The girls came out of the bath the other night and Emmerdale just happened to be on because the telly had clicked on. [I said] ‘Look, look, that’s Mummy’s work,’ and they went, ‘Oh no, not this! Can we watch something else?’”
As well as their own children, Emma and Lucy have a fierce loyalty to their on-screen Dingle family as they are both still close to their former co-stars Charley Webb and Danny Miller, who played Charity’s daughter Debbie and Chas’s son Aaron respectively.
Emma, who likens Charley to a mother figure despite the fact she’s 13 years younger than her, tells us that they live round the corner from each other and that their children are “inseparable”. Charley has sons Buster, Bowie and Ace with Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden.
Speaking of their friendship, Emma tells us, “She’s very organised and to think she’s 13 years younger, she’s often got a maternal instinct with me. We’ve got a really lovely friendship.
“We used to have a lot of emotional scenes together, being mother and daughter. I do miss that. There was, again, a lot of authenticity to it because of our history as friends.
“I took her under my wing when she joined the show at 14 and I think she looked up to me – I felt honoured that I was bonding with this young girl who felt she could come to me for advice and stuff.”
Lucy adds, “Charley Webb I see more out of work than I did in work anyway, so she’s still very much a part of my life and all of our lives.
“Danny, I miss him all the time. We always had that closeness – if he was ever in trouble or if anything was happening, he used to call for a bit of advice.
“He’s got his wedding coming up, so I’ve been given the day off work to go!”
Lucy jokes she’ll be like a “proud mum” watching her on-screen son tie the knot with Steph Jones.
This isn’t the first Dingle clan actor to get married, as Lucy and Emma both went to Charley’s surprise wedding to Matthew in 2018, which guests actually thought was going to be her 30th birthday party.
Emma says, “I was gutted because I didn’t look that great and she [Charley] said, ‘Make sure you come looking great.’ I was like, ‘Alright, it’s only a 30th!’ Well, when I turned out to be one of the bridesmaids… I was like, ‘This dress should have been a better dress!’ and Charley went, ‘Well, I did tell you!’”
And the cast will be having even more celebrations as Lucy, who jokes it’s like a “party every weekend” with her co-stars, is set to celebrate her 20th Emmerdale anniversary in October, which also ties into the ITV soap’s 50th celebrations.
“Twenty years! I don’t know where it’s gone to be quite honest with you,” Lucy admits. “Once you get in [Emmerdale], it’ll always feel like you’re the new girl. It’s like a little time capsule, or a time machine.
“As a group of friends, we’re quite young in mindset because we all still feel the same age we were when we first met and joined. I’ve managed to pack a lot into the show, and been given some amazing opportunities during those 20 years.”
Lucy, who originally auditioned for the role of Emma’s character, Charity, before being cast as Chas in 2002, adds, “I’ve got nothing planned. I think the 50th will be like a celebration in itself, so I don’t know.
“I probably should have a party, but we all get together all the time anyway, so it’s like a party every weekend.”
Lucy has been involved in several hard-hitting storylines over the years, but she admits that her most difficult scenes to date were when Chas lost her baby, Grace, in 2018.
“It was a very, very difficult one,” Lucy says. “I’d only just had the girls [her twins], so knowing the joy that I’d had from them and then understanding the loss people go through when they lose a child was juxtaposed in my head, really.
“That storyline was rewarding, but extremely heartbreaking to do.”
