Lisa Riley is called "nanna" by her younger 'Emmerdale' co-stars.
Lisa Riley urges her younger Emmerdale co-stars to stay off social media
The 46-year-old actress shot to fame when she took on the role of Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap as a teenager in 1995 and remained with the programme until 2001 before returning to the part in 2019.
But Lisa has explained that her days of partying off-set are over, and she is now more of a mentor figure to her younger co-stars.
She said: "At 46, they're calling me nanna! But I'm fine with that. They're like 'Oh, nanna's here!' and I'm literally in bed for 10 o'clock. I am a proper nanna. But I was the girl that was out until two o'clock in the morning."
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing' star - who has been teetotal since 2016 and famously shed 12 stone in the same year - went on to add that she has turned things around since the early days of her career, and urges her younger colleagues to stay off social media because she is left "heartbroken" by how they can be affected by the "dangerous" comments they receive online.
Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', she added: "I've done it all and I know the mistakes that I made and I pulled my socks up and I carried on but I owned it.
"I owned my mistakes so I say 'Don't do that' or 'Don't read that stuff that's gonna hurt your feeling!' I go 'I know you've been looking at that stuff on social media, don't read it, it's dangerous!' Because it does affect the younguns', it does. And that breaks my heart. I want them to go in and have that confidence like I did when I was a kid."
During her almost-20-year break from the show, the 'Fat Friends' actress took on dramatic roles in shows such as 'Waterloo Road' and 'Three Girls', but also became a regular face during pantomime season.
Lisa admitted that every "box had been ticked" during her time away, and explained that she is "so proud" of her time as Mandy Dingle.
She added: "Some days, I just pinch myself. We get our scripts every fortnight and you know the writers aren't bored of her.
"They love writing for her. That's great for me as an actor. Sometimes, it's real heightened comedy and sometimes it is really serious storylines.
"I'm lucky that I can be woven into each pot as it were. I love it and I have creatively ticked every box in my gap that I wanted to tick. I feel like part of the family and I'm working with my dearest friends and then all the newbies are coming in. It's a lovely place to work and I'm so proud of it."
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