Emmerdale Lisa Riley embarked on a secret romance with a married co-star
Emmerdale legend Lisa Riley previously opened up about her “naughty” romance with a married co-star.
The actress shot to fame playing Mandy Dingle on the ITV soap – making her debut in 1995. As the loud-mouthed and loyal villager Mandy, Lisa has become one of the soap’s most iconic stars.
She has also been involved in several big storylines over the years. From becoming a financial dominatrix to her romance and later marriage with Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), her time in the Dales has not been short of drama.
But away from the soap, Lisa’s had her own colourful love life too. During the festive season of 2002, while performing in a pantomime in Swansea, Lisa struck up a conversation with set painter Nick Holly.
In her book, Never Judge a Book by its Cover: The Autobiography by Lisa Riley, she candidly reveals that he “wasn’t exactly an oil painting” and was nearly a decade her senior. She shared: “As the days passed I could feel myself falling for him.”
Nick confessed to Lisa that he was a married man with children, and after the pair shared a “snog”, Lisa told herself: “He’s married. It can’t go any further.”
She added: “Things escalated from there. He started coming round nearly every morning. In between shows we’d go into my dressing room and lock the door.
“Soon we were spending all our time together. I’m ashamed to say I found the situation a little bit naughty and exciting.”
Nick then left his wife to start his new life with Lisa in Bury. She said: “‘My God’, I thought. ‘This is it.’ It was so flattering to think he loved me enough to want to change his whole life. Everything felt so right and so romantic.”
However, once they were both in Bury, Lisa said: “Tiny doubts about our relationship began to creep into my mind but I brushed them aside.”
Despite their best efforts to maintain their relationship outside of the Panto environment, things didn’t work out for the couple. She said: “It soon went pear-shaped.”
According to Lisa, the “crunch came on Valentine’s Day” when she could tell Nick wasn’t enjoying himself during their date night: a theatre trip and a “mega room at the Covent Garden Hotel”.
She added: “Back at the hotel he didn’t come near me. He didn’t even give me a kiss. I can still picture him sitting on the end of the bed.” Lisa added: “‘You’re not right, are you?’ I said. He put his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this.”
Lisa has since found love with American musician Al – after meeting in 2014 through mutual friends. Four years into their relationship, Al proposed, but the couple are not in any hurry to walk down the aisle.
She is quite private about her partner, not even disclosing his last name in public, although she frequently mentions him in interviews and shared a loved snap on Instagram back in 2023 from their trip to New York.
Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 and ITVX at 7.30pm
