Lisa Riley has signed a new "long" 'Emmerdale' deal.
Lisa Riley isn't leaving Emmerdale anytime soon
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' star - who has played Mandy Dingle on and off for nearly three decades - isn't planning to say goodbye to the fictional Yorkshire village, as her character prepares to walk down the aisle and marry Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) for a second time, over a quarter of a century after they first said "I do".
The 48-year-old actress told Woman's Weekly magazine: “I’ve just signed a new long contract and I’m very happy. Paddy and Mandy bring such joy to the show – you can rely on the fact that they’re going to bring you that sprinkle of fun and I love that.
"It’s 25 years since they married the first time and I’d like to think that I’ll still be in the show in another 25 years – I absolutely love it.”
Lisa - who got engaged to her boyfriend AI of ten years in 2018 - admitted art probably won’t imitate life in terms of the real-life couple tying the knot.
The star doesn't want to waste lots of money on “one day”, and she wouldn’t “be able to cope” having a wedding without her late mother Cath, who passed away in 2012 following a battle with breast cancer.
She said: “Al and I got engaged and I wear my engagement ring every day. We made that vow to each other that we’re together forever and that’s enough.
"If we had £20,000, we wouldn’t spend it on a wedding. It’s one day.
“It doesn’t make a difference.If we had that sort of money, we could go and see the world together and be even more in love than ever before?
“Mentally, I wouldn’t be able to cope with the fact that my mum wouldn’t be sitting there on my special day. She was my rock, my stability, my everything - I wouldn’t be in 'Emmerdale' if it wasn’t for her support."
Tagged in Dominic Brunt Lisa Riley