“Belle's birth in 1998. I remember lying in this pig-pen beside a sleeping pig while Paddy tried to deliver Belle. It was quite scary as we weren't sure if the pig was going to wake up! Eden Taylor-Draper, who plays Belle has grown up to be such a great little actress.”
It’s certainly more interesting than keeping them in an urn…
The fictional village of Emmerdale has many memorials to mark the dearly departed. Gennie Hope – murdered by evil Cameron Murray in 2013 – has a playground in her honour, while vicar Ashley Thomas, who died from dementia in 2017, is remembered in a stained glass window at the church and, more recently, Paddy crafted a memorial garden as a tribute to his and Chas’s baby daughter, Grace, who passed away last year.
So when Lisa Dingle – terminally ill with the condition amyloidosis – inevitably meets her maker in the coming weeks, no doubt the Dingles will want to find some way to keep her memory alive. But what will be a fitting tribute to the woman who has held the family together for over two decades? Well, Jane Cox, who plays Lisa, has her own suggestion.
Speaking exclusively to TVTimes, the 66 year old actress says: “Maybe her ashes could be used to grow vegetables for everybody.”
As matriarch Lisa has always put everyone else’s needs before her own, that sounds like a genius idea to us. Her produce would have to have special names, though. Lisa’s leeks, anyone? Ma Dingle’s Maris Pipers?
Actress Jane announced her decision to leave Emmerdale earlier this year, having notched up 23 years on the ITV soap. The show’s bosses have refused to reveal how long Lisa has left to live, but the character certainly didn’t look too well when she recently returned to the fictional village from Scotland and told the family about her diagnosis.
Bosses have confirmed, however, that before the tears there will be plenty of happiness – because next week, Lisa will remarry Zak, having first tied the knot with him way back in 1998.
Reveals Jane of the big day: “It’s a fun day, it really is. They’re celebrating being together and celebrating the fact that they’ve still got some time left together.
“They’re not thinking of anything in the future. The attitude is ‘Let’s make the most of it – smile, laugh and have a good time.’”
