Katie Hill shares the truth on her real life bond with Charity Dingle actress
Emmerdale actress Katie Hill spilled on her relationship with Emma Atkinson as she revealed that her co-star is “nowhere near a grandma” in real life.
Kate Hill first graced the Dales in 2017 as she became the fifth actress to take on the role of Sarah Sugden. She was bought into the ITV soap as they wanted Sarah to take on more mature storylines.
One of these storylines included her diagnosis with a rare genetic disease called Fanconi anaemia. She had to receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant and also a heart transplant which has shortened her potential lifespan.
The Dingle and Sugden family tree can be be a tad convoluted – Sarah is the daughter of Debbie Dingle and Andy Sugden, making her the granddaughter of Charity Dingle.
And in recent episodes, Charity has supported Sarah as she took a positive pregnancy test and was unable to tell Jacob as he broke up with her before she could share the news. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News and other press, actress Katie shared that they have a good relationship off-screen too.
She admitted: “My relationship with Emma is amazing. She’s the most funny, lovely person ever. We share a dressing room together so in-between scenes we are always catching up. When it comes to being protective, I’d say Emma is more of a best-friend to me. She’s nowhere near being a grandma.”
Katie continued: “She’s always there for me if I was having a bit of a bad day. She’s the first one to recognise it and ask me if I’m okay. I know that I could turn to her for anything. If I have any questions. We have a really nice relationship with each other.”
Katie Hill admitted that Sarah’s “Dingle side” will start to show more(Image: ITV)
With the Dingle clan often being portrayed as a tight-knit community always looking out for one another, Katie admitted that they are a “really close bunch” and “good people” to work with.
She added: “My favourite scenes are The Woolpack scenes, all the parties and the weddings. They are just mad days and each day is different.”
Katie also revealed that they have a WhatsApp group chat where they keep in touch with each other even outside of work. The Emmerdale star confessed: “It is really nice to have that feeling at work with them all”.
Speaking of the Dingle family, now that Jacob has split with Sarah there will be a love triangle brewing when bad boy newcomer Kammy gets thrown into the mix. He’ll catch Sarah’s eye and the pair will get closer, but how will Charity react?
Katie discussed being able to play more into her Dingle heritage in upcoming scenes, as she said: “She’s grown up with it (Sarah’s Dingle gene). She’s got Charity as her grandma and Cain as her grandad. She’s definitely always had it around her.
“I think now she’s thinking ‘I’m a big girl and it is my turn to be a proper Dingle now’. She’s going down that route as it is what she’s seen her whole family do her whole life.”
She added: “I’m really enjoying exploring the Dingle side. I’m also enjoying doing some of the stuff which shows more of her vulnerable side. She’s such a fun character to play. She has her Dingle side, which is fun to mess around with, but I think she has got a good heart deep down. So, it is nice to dip into both sides.”
Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
