ITV Emmerdale Charity Dingle actress Emma Atkins discusses soap future after sparking exit fears

Emma Atkins has opened up about her future on Emmerdale after sparking exit fears.

Charity Dingle has been in trouble with the police twice in just a matter of a months, having killed Damon ‘Harry’ Harris after he kidnapped Mackenzie and then, as she struggled with PTSD, she ended up stabbing Mack and insisted she needed to go to jail for what she’d done. However, on both occasions, Charity has been allowed home and now is struggling to cope with all that’s going on, but she has turned to therapy to support her recovery.

Emma appeared on ITV show Lorraine today, where she spoke about Charity’s future on the show. She had sparked exit fears previously when she said she was “OK” with her time on the soap “ending”.

Speaking on Lorraine today, she said: “At the moment, I’m getting to show that side of Charity’s vulnerability that was never there or exposed before. I think the therapy session brings that out, and I love that so much playing that.

“I feel very lucky to be playing at this level for my character. It’s a journey. I guess, I know her so well now. Being given these episodes was a gift, especially the therapy one, because it was the beginnings of finding out what’s in her head. And it was like now let’s get this out. It’s brought it all to the surface and the PTSD storyline brought it all out and showed people that trauma is unique.”

Emma also opened up about how much the new storyline has changed her perception on acting.

“To bring it all out now, I’ve loved it. I’ve been so lucky to have a chance to do these storylines. It’s made me realise how much I love acting actually. I’ve matured with the show,” she explained of her latest storyline.

When Emma learned of the Harry death storyline, she recalled worrying about what her future held.

Speaking to The Mirror and other press, she said: “When I got the script I was a bit like ‘Wow, oh my god, this makes me a killer but I guess what will be will be and you can never really be fearful of these things because if my time in Emmerdale is coming to an end then I will always be OK because that’s my job, I’ve chosen to be an actress and you have to sort of go with the flow.

“Yeah I did think at one point ‘Oh god, my character has now killed’ but when I read the script I realised actually it’s an act of love, it’s act of self defence and she doesn’t do it purposefully. There’s no intent to kill so that made me feel a bit better.”