There is tragedy looming for heartbroken couple Chas Dingle and Paddy Kirk in Emmerdale as they are facing losing their unborn baby, which cant survive outside the womb. And while its some time until the scenes are filmed, the stars who play them are aware of where the storyline is going and have dropped hints suggesting that the episodes which see Chas go into labour will not be what the audience expect.
For now on screen, Chas and Paddy are trying to come to terms with the fate of their child and the pair meet up with a mother who has been through this to see if it will help them deal with what is to come.
Revealing what is coming up for the birth scenes, Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas, told Metro.co.uk: Theyre carrying her to full term, thats the plan, but the birth is not survivable. We can say its going to be slightly different to how people are going to be anticipating it. But thats about all we can say.
Addressing the viewer reaction to the devastating story so far, she continued: Its been fantastic what Ive read, I mean Im very cautious about what I read anyway because you can have 4000 positives and that one negative can just stick in your brain you know and youre just like “aaah bugger why did I have to read that one?” But so far considering its such a rare condition, the amount of people that have said theyve gone through similar things, and it must be harrowing for viewers to watch if youve been through similar things, but I think what soaps do is we deal with everyday life anyway.
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Dominic Brunt, who plays Paddy, agreed, adding: I think its been done sensibly and responsibly. I think the temptation or danger would be to present it in an exploitative way and go “oh thats a horrible situation lets soap it up” and that would be awful and they havent done that – theyve really done their research.
Of course, there are harrowing times ahead for Chas and Paddy as the months go by but the pair are both hoping that as a couple, they can get through this and survive as a unit long term.
Dominic mused: I hope so, but the differences between the two people is really interesting. They have different view points but also Ive been given these bits where he is a bit like a buffoon, hes not carrying the baby so he cant help but say the wrong things sometimes. Ultimately hes a good person and hes trying to do whats best. So I really hope they stay together.
Lucy added: I really hope they do but hopefully we will continue to see two people going through the same experience but have different ways of getting through it. So not only have we got the next bit of storyline to do, weve also got the aftermath of what happens which Im sure is going to be equally difficult.
The pair described the scenes as harrowing and exhausting to film but both have agreed that it is a gift of a storyline for their characters to have been given and they are clearly giving it their all. But how does Lucy manage to get into that space where she has to deliver such raw emotion?
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She explained: I listen to music sometimes and there was a story on Radio 1 recently. They started getting people on radio talking about an event in their life and then playing the tune that goes along with it. I was driving into work one day and there was a woman that was on and I was just in floods and now I play the song.
Her event was something to do with twins and of course Ive got twins and it was about losing one of them, so it just kind of resonated with me on the way to work doing all these scenes and I just played the song in my head. Well I have it on my phone. Its Ellie Gouldings How Long Will I Love You, its like an acoustic version of it and I dont like the song but now I know the story, it just sets me off.
Emmerdale continues weeknights at 7pm on ITV with an additional Thursday episode at 8pm.
Dominic Brunts new horror film Attack Of The Adult Babies is now on sale and you can purchase it here.
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