Nicola Wheeler, best known for playing Nicola King in Emmerdale for over two decades, has opened up about her real-life connection with her on-screen husband Nick Miles
Emmerdale’s Nicola Wheeler has admitted that her and co-star Nick Miles are like a married couple away from the ITV soap.
The actress has been playing Nicola King since 2001 and she appeared on ITV’s Lorraine on Monday (November 25) to open up on her latest storyline as her character becomes suspicious of her evil nephew Tom King (James Chase).
However, conversation later turned to Nicola’s close bond with Nick, who plays her on-screen husband Jimmy King. Host Lorraine Kelly pointed out: “You two in Emmerdale have been married 10 years now, is it?” Nicola replied: “They must have been married about 14 years now.”
The presenter continued: “In real life, you two are really good mates and you’d need to be because you share so much time together. You must have that shorthand where you almost finish each other sentences.”
Nicola added: “We do. We have that thing of whenever I’m learning any scenes at home, I can hear Nick when I’m learning it. So I know how he’s going to play it, I know the pattern.
“I have the same thing with Charlotte [Bellamy], who plays Laurel. When you work with somebody that closely for so many years, you kind of know how they’re going to play something. Sometimes I’m surprised but more often than not, it makes it easier because we know each others rhythms. It is a bit like being married in real life.”
In the show, Nicola recently made the difficult decision to leave her family home she shared with Jimmy in a bid to protect her kids from abuser Tom, who is under investigation over the way he treated wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).
Jimmy believes Tom is innocnet but Nicola Nicola knows full well that Tom is guilty, having seen what he’s capable of first hand when he terrorised her son Carl Holliday (Charlie Joyce) over the whereabouts of his tablet, which harboured crucial evidence that confirmed his guilt.
Nicola has since moved back into Victoria Cottage and won’t stop until she gets what she wants – and that’s Tom out of their lives for good.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 or stream from 7am on ITVX
