Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale's Mandy Dingle has arguably had the year from hell, having lost her fiancé Paul Ashdale on their wedding day before discovering that Paul had been secretly gambling and abusing their son Vinny Dingle.
While Mandy has cried a lot of tears in 2021, actress Lisa Riley has suggested that her character will soon be working together with another Dingle lady in a story about the strength of their family bonds.
Speaking to Inside Soap, Lisa shared the news of a "fabulous" plot coming up for Mandy and Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) as they unite to protect their sons.
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"I don't think Mandy will ever find love. She's that type, and that's why everyone has empathy for her," she said of her character's future. "She will probably fall for someone at some point, but I can see her getting trampled on again.
"Next up, I've got some fabulous stuff where Mandy teams up with Chas as two Dingle mums who don't like people messing with our sons. I can't think of anyone who'd want to mess with them together, can you?"
The exact details of what might bring Mandy and Chas together have not been revealed but whoever crosses them had better watch their backs.
Speaking of danger, Lisa addressed the current presence of serial killer Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu) in the village. While Meena may have just claimed another Dales victim in the form of Andrea Tate, Lisa reckons Mandy has nothing to fear from menacing Meena.
Related: Emmerdale's Danny Miller and fiancée Steph Jones welcome baby
"I think Mandy is completely safe, don't worry," she said. "She'd have Meena-flakes for breakfast! I've only done two scenes with Paige and she's amazing. But there's no problem at all there for Mandy – she'd get the cricket bat out!"
As well as looking at what's ahead for Mandy, Lisa also reflected on her highlights from the past year and she picked out one particular scene she has filmed which she feels especially proud of.
"It has to be the graveside scene between Mandy and Vinny," she said. "The response I had to that afterwards was unlike anything I've ever received in my life before. After Paul died, me and Bradley Johnson (who plays Vinny) had four and a half weeks of scenes playing out the consequences of what happened.
"When you are dealing with something like death, and you can't touch your fellow artists (due to COVID-19 restrictions), it's hard. The scripts were incredible, and I think that the graveside scene, if it'd been in a two-part drama, it'd be considered right up there."
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
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Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
