Lucy Pargeter will never choose to leave Emmerdale: 'They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming!'

6 March 2024

Lucy Pargeter will never choose to leave 'Emmerdale'.

Lucy Pargeter will never choose to leave Emmerdale

The 47-year-old actress has starred as Chas Dingle on the ITV1 soap opera since 2002 and admitted that if she is written out, it will not be her decision and show bosses would have to "drag" her out because she is just happy to have the job.

She told MyWeekly magazine: "I don’t think I will ever make the decision to leave myself – they’ll have to write me out, but even they they’d have to drag me out kicking and screaming! I’ve got a job that I love and I’ll stay as long as they’ll have me."

The former 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!' contestant admitted that despite the "difficult storylines" she has had to tackle over the years, she still manages to have a laugh at some point in he working day and "can't complain" at all about the role despite the demanding hours and the "tiring" nature of the job.

She said: "Even if I’m doing difficult storylines, there’s not a day goes by where we don’t laugh and giggle. We’re sometimes like children in kindergarten.

“Even though we’ve all been here so long, we still enjoy creating stories and we’re constantly coming up with ideas.

“It can be long hours and it’s tiring sometimes, but I can’t complain, because I love it."

In recent episode, Chas has been diagnosed with breast cancer and while Lucy has no experience with the disease herself, she was still able to give the writers some suggestions as she recalled having the "practicalities"of having her implants removed

She said: "Having my implants removed and being left with very tiny breasts is a massive thing.

“While I wouldn’t want to put the experience of what I’ve been through personally with my breasts in anywhere near the same category (as cancer), having had that surgery I can relate and draw upon it. You’re in pain, so there are practicalities during the recovery. I’ve said to the storyliners that we should maybe include the fact that she can’t wash her hair, because you can’t physically move your arms to do that. I couldn’t wash my hair for a couple of weeks because of the scars and pain.

"You struggle with buttons and with putting clothes over your head, so everything has to be zip-up. These are little things, but they are details that people who haven’t gone through that sort of surgery wouldn’t know."