EXCLUSIVE: ITV Emmerdale star opens up on secret Dingle WhatsApp – and who’s the most active
The Dingles are the biggest family in the fictional Dales, with one cast member opening up about the group's secret WhatsApp for outside of Emmerdale
Emmerdale actress Karen Blick has opened up about a secret Dingle WhatsApp.
Karen has played key member of the Dingles, Lydia, for nearly 10 years and has described being part of the iconic Dingle family as the “icing on the cake”. During a chat with The Mirror, Karen opened up about her role on the soap and the fictional family – and real life friends – she gets to surround herself with every day, describing them as “a great bunch of people”.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, she said: “I adore it. It’s amazing being a part of Emmerdale as it is, I’m a Yorkshire woman in a Yorkshire soap, it’s a dream come true. To be in the Dingles is the icing on the cake, it’s fantastic.
“We’re like one big family even outside of work. Everyone looks out for one another. We all look after each other – if you’re busy, everyone is checking in. We’ve got a little WhatsApp group as well.”
Karen has played Lydia on Emmerdale for nearly a decade (
ITV)
Confessing who’s most active in the group chat, she revealed: “It’s Danny [Miller] who posts amusing photos and anecdotes too. But it’s lovely. They’re a great bunch of people and I couldn’t wait for a better on-screen family. And I love working with James Hooton.”
The Dingles will take front and centre later this year as the soap bids a sad goodbye to Steve Halliwell’s character Zak Dingle, after the actor tragically passed away last year. The patriarch of the Dingle family will be remembered in a special funeral episode.
Producer Sophie Roper explained: “The Dingles have been at the heart of our show for 30 years now and will continue to be so. And as many of you will know, of course, we lost Steve recently…
“So we’re going to be marking Zak’s passing, the iconic Zak Dingle character, in the coming months with a Dingle funeral. It will be so very difficult for a lot of people who work on the show and, obviously, for a lot of our viewers who have grown and loved Zak for many, many years. But it will be a hugely fitting tribute to such an iconic character coming up.”
Speaking about the episode, Karen added: “We knew that the team at Emmerdale was going to honour and respect the iconic character that Steve made in Zak Dingle. I read the script actually yesterday and it made me cry.
“The first few scripts are starting to tease through now and I did, I cried and I thought the audience are in for a treat. It’s very sad but it’s incredibly heart-warming and a wonderful tribute to Steve and important to Zak Dingle.”