Emmerdale star Zoe Henry has shared how her previous job before finding soap fame has been coming in handy during her character's current storyline. The actress, who plays Rhona Goskirk in the ITV soap, made her Dales debut in 2001 but left the following year. She returned as a full-time character in 2010 where she has faced a whole host of storylines since.
And in recent months, viewers have watched Rhona deal with her partner, the much-loved Marlon Dingle, suffering a stroke and his subsequent recovery. But the bright spot in it all is the on again-off again wedding which will take place in Thursday night's episode (August 11).
Asked what it was like to film the emotional scenes, Zoe told Ranvir Singh as she appeared on ITV's Lorraine on Thursday: "Really lovely, really emotional. Caroline Mitchell was the writer of the episode and she's just brilliant, she knows those characters well and she writes beautifully."
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She then added: "And also rather selfishly as actors, it was wonderful to have so many people on set. Because of the Covid restrictions we had been limited to around 10 people, so everyone was really giddy to be back."
She then told host Ranvir, who is standing in for Lorraine Kelly during her summer break, of her past as a carer meaning some of the equipment they have been working with on-set to accurately portray Marlon's road to recovery has been of familiar territory.
The 48-year-old soap star said: "I was a carer for a long time so I have a little experience of wheelchairs and hoists. It is a really important story and an important one to tell."
Speaking during a press event at Emmerdale's Yorkshire village earlier this month, Mark Charnock, who has spent more than two decades playing Marlon, revealed how they also have an advisor on set. Mark told the Manchester Evening News and other press that it has been "really helpful" to have before adding; "She's quite strict as well. It's great... especially with the walk down the aisle. She was like, 'No! Do it again. No, no!' And it was brilliant.
"She has worked with people who have had strokes all day every day and it was great because once we got in here [the church] and we did it, I went, 'Was it alright?' and she said it was 'bang on', you felt like you had won the lottery."
But Zoe also couldn't have made a TV appearance without being asked what she could tell viewers about the soap's upcoming 50th anniversary. She said "Well not much because I'll probably lose my job if I do. But I also don't know a great deal because you often don't know stuff until you're just about to shoot it.
"Yes there is a storm. There's some very heavy duty wind machines in the village... they were being tested when I was in the other week - they were quite noisy," she explained before adding: "I think it's going to be quite a rollercoaster."
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