Charlotte Bellamy is happy to have escaped death on Emmerdale
Emmerdale actress Charlotte Bellamy is delighted that her character Laurel Thomas has been able to cheat death in more than two decades on the soap.
Charlotte Bellamy is glad that she hasn't been killed off in Emmerdale.
The 52-year-old actress has played the role of Laurel Thomas in the ITV soap for the past 23 years and joked that "the best Christmas present" for her is surviving another year of drama on the Dales.
Charlotte told Inside Soap magazine: "The best present is they haven't killed me off every year!
"There you go, my best Christmas memory is that I've not been bumped off... yet!"
Charlotte is at the centre of this year's festive drama on Emmerdale as Laurel's romance with villainous Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) intensifies and she says her character is none the wiser about the drug dealer and his adoptive mother Celia Daniels' (Jaye Griffiths) dark deeds.
She said: "Laurel's in heaven!
"She's just met the man of her dreams and he's totally into her. Laurel becomes like a magnet, and Ray is drawn to her in the sense of, 'This is what my life could be.'
"At Christmas, all the things that we maybe take for granted – the Christmas tree, the games, cooking dinner round the table – suddenly Ray is thinking, 'This is wonderful and I feel so good', and Laurel is magnetic to him.
"But, of course, he's still under the thumb of Celia who is obviously extremely worried, for the first time in her life, that Ray's not listening to her anymore. He's listening to Laurel."
Charlotte explained it will be "devastating" for her alter ego to learn the truth because Laurel is "mesmerised" by Ray.
She said: "Ray's phone is always going on and off and she's like, 'Hang on...', but it's only fleeting because she's so mesmerised by him.
"When you meet someone, why would you question anything? You just believe what you're told. When it eventually all comes out, it'll be devastating.
"Laurel will have to accept that she has fallen for an absolute monster."
Bellamy even considers Celia to be one of the most ruthless villains in Emmerdale's history.
She said: "Celia is in a completely different league, she's probably the worst, most dangerous villain we've ever had.
"The levels that she and Ray go to, you won't believe what happens. Oh my gosh, it's so horrendous."
