Emmerdale legend Lisa Riley says she wants to send Mandy Dingle off in a 'leopard print coffin'
Lisa Riley "never knows" if her 'Emmerdale' character will be killed off even after 30 years playing Mandy Dingle on the ITV1 soap.
Lisa Riley wants to send her 'Emmerdale' character off in a "leopard print coffin" one day.
The 48-year-old actress first played barmaid-turned-beautician Mandy Dingle on the ITV1 soap opera from 1995 until 2001 and returned to the part in 2019 but admitted that when the time comes for her legendary alter-ego to depart the fictional Yorkshire village, she wants to make sure that it is the "campest funeral" ever.
Speaking on ITV's 'Good Morning Britain', she said: "I hope it's not very soon but if there's a leopard print coffin, it would be perfect.
"It would be the campest funeral in soap opera, it really would be!"
After a limousine crash on Valentine's Day left the fates of several characters uncertain, she has admitted that it just takes one producer to decide whether her time is up.
She said: "We're just jobbing actors, and like I've done with all the all the other dramas that I've done, if it was the case then I'd go onto my next job. No one is safe, in front of the camera or behind the camera. That's the way it is and that's how you keep working harder to make sure that if you want to stay, which I very much to stay, I like to think that I work very hard to warrant my place here."
The former 'Strictly Come Dancing ' contestant - who starred in dramas such as 'Fat Friends', 'Waterloo Road' and 'Three Girls' during her time away from the soap and was also a panellist on 'Loose Women' - teased that viewers will only find out what happened to Mandy in the crash during Monday's (17.01.25) episode.
She said: "Because of the current climate, you've gotta keep up with the brilliant storylines so that's why you have something so impactful like the two limousines.
"All weekend, everyone is talking about it on social media, that's what the bosses want. Same with 'Coronation Street', and all the other soaps.
"You never know who is gonna be alive or dead."
"We knew we were gonna be doing this massive stunt for Valentine's Day, and you go and see the producer to say 'Am I going to die?!' Me and Dominic [Brunt], who plays Paddy, my husband were flicking through the script wondering if Mandy and Paddy were alive or dead, which you will find out this evening. Mandy and Paddy are very happy here but you will see the outcome."
