Emmerdale's Laura Norton has said that most viewers wanted to give her character Kerry Wyatt 'a good slap' when she first arrived in the village, but now they understand her better.
Loose cannon Kerry has been known to enjoy a drink or two and isn't shy of confrontation, but is now happily settled with Dan Spencer (Liam Fox) - until she embarks on a mission to get married and enters a dream wedding contest, telling organisers she is dying.
Laura said: "I have noticed a massive change in the way viewers react to Kerry. When she arrived, there was a lot of conflict around her.
"She was very loud, causing a lot of trouble and arguing, but people didn't really know where it was coming from. They would say, 'Who is this horrible girl?'
"But as time has gone on, viewers have seen a bit more of her. After she was knocked over and hospitalised, she admitted quite a lot about herself. People suddenly saw how vulnerable she is. After those scenes I started getting tweets and messages from people wanting to cuddle her, when before everyone wanted to give her a good slap."
Laura added that lots of viewers could relate to Kerry now: "It might sound surprising, but Kerry does seem to represent lots of women. There was a scene when she got drunk with Val (Charlie Hardwick) and they ended up pole-dancing around a lamp post.
"I got pages and pages of tweets saying, 'That's me and my mate on a night out.' That doesn't mean those scenes aren't difficult, though."
The actress also admitted of her character's outfits: "Kerry might be in her 30s, but she dresses like she's 21. Everything is short, bright and two sizes too small for me.
"My best friend snaps pictures of the most bizarre outfits Kerry wears and texts them to me to take the mickey."
