Charley Webb spent nearly two decades playing Debbie Dingle in Emmerdale, but eagle-eyed viewers will spot her in The Long Shadow on Monday night.
In her first TV role since leaving the soap, she makes an appearance in episode two of hit ITV1 true crime drama, as WPC Anna Lawson, a police officer who takes part in the growing hunt for Peter Sutcliffe.
With a star-studded cast of actors, including the likes of David Morrissey, Toby Jones, Katherine Kelly and Jill Halfpenny, Charley says she felt The Long Shadow was the right project to mark her return.
"It’s such an important subject and I knew ITV would handle it really well," she says. “Plus it had an amazing cast and a great director in Lewis Arnold. As the series plays out you see how women were hugely affected by the case. It’s a very male-dominated world, but WPC Lawson is more sensitive to the effects of the case than many of her male colleagues.”
Charley met with a female police officer who worked on the real case as a way of preparation for the role and in the second episode we see her at the sharp end of West Yorkshire’s investigation.
Following the murders of Wilma McCann and Emily Jackson, WPC Lawson and a male colleague speak to one of Leeds’ sex workers in a bid to find out more about the killing and the stories she tells are harrowing.
"I tried to play it with as much sensitivity as possible and had it in my mind that WPC Lawson would be feeling what this young woman had gone through, night after night," explains Charley. "Lewis Arnold is a great director and a lot is conveyed through looks between characters, so we wanted to keep that sensitivity in mind throughout."
It's been two years since Charley’s feisty character, Debbie Dingle, left after 19 years in the Dales, with Charley wanting to take some time out before choosing her next project.
“It felt like the right time for me personally to make that jump from Emmerdale and I don't have any regrets about it," he says. "I’m ambitious to push myself and it’s just about choosing the right projects from now on. It's hard to say no to work, but I trust my agent and I trust the process. Hopefully, I’ve made some good choices so far."
Charley also stars in Chichester Theatre’s stage adaption of Quiz, a production based on ITV1 drama about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? coughing scandal, at the end of September.
"I’m really excited about it," she says. "I've got lots of friends from soaps, people like Jenna Coleman, who’s gone on to do other stuff. Some go off to do theatre, while others stay on TV, so it’s just about trying to make the right choices."
New episodes of The Long Shadow air on at 9 pm on Mondays on ITV1
