Emmerdale actress Lucy Pargeter has revealed the storyline that will signal her being signed off for maternity leave.
The actress plays village favourite Chas Dingle and is expecting twins in real life, who are due at the beginning of May.
Now Lucy, 40, has explained how her character will be temporarily written out of the Yorkshire Dales-set soap which she has starred in for 15 years.
Chas has been taking care of Liv Flaherty (Isobel Steele), her son Aaron’s (Danny Miller) half-sister, while he is in prison, as her mother lives in Ireland.
Lucy said: “Liv’s mum has had an accident in Ireland where she lives and Chas sees herself as Liv’s acting mother because Aaron is in prison still. She decides to take Liv over to Ireland to see her mum.
“It’ll be me gone for a while, but not too long, depending. I’ll be back very soon.
“Fictionally, I’m in Ireland, having a lovely summer.”
Chas will also be keen for an excuse to leave the village as her own estranged mother, Faith (Sally Dexter), has been trying to work her way back into the Dingle family’s lives.
Lucy said: “Chas is determined she isn’t going to make things up with Faith, she’s determined that she doesn’t need her in her life and would rather she just went back to wherever she came from.
“She’s not keen on her wheedling her way into the family. Everyone else seems to be softening around the edges towards her and can’t see what Chas’s problem is.”
She added: “Faith is a reminder that Chas has been an awful parent in the past.”
Lucy, who already has an 11-year-old daughter, Lola, with partner Rudi Coleano, has starred in the ITV soap since 2002.