Emmerdale’s Natalie J Robb has spoken about her ‘intense’ brain tumour storyline, saying that while it’s ‘exhausting’ to film it’s been an ‘honour and a privilege’ to raise awareness

Emmerdale’s Moira Dingle actress Natalie J Robb has discussed her latest storyline on the ITV soap ahead of worrying scenes next week, telling fans “it was an honour” to be given the plot.

Moira was diagnosed with a brain tumour in September after a change in her behaviour, as well as her experiencing mood swings, confusion and scary seizures. Actress Natalie confessed she didn’t realise just how many people were in Moira’s shoes in real life, experiencing the effects of a brain tumour every day.

The soap favourite has been inundated with messages from those going through what Moira is onscreen, with her calling it a “privilege” to reflect their story. After research and speaking with people who are in Moira’s position in real life, Natalie said it was “extraordinary” to be able to raise awareness.

She shared her hope to get the storyline right, speaking with neurologists and charities to ensure everything shown in the scenes is accurate and a true portrayal. Natalie admitted the storyline could be “intense” to film, with her left feeling “exhausted” especially after filming the seizures.

But the scenes shown onscreen so far have led to Natalie being approached by fans with her also being inundated with messages from people who have been diagnosed with a brain tumour, or who know someone that has. Speaking to The Mirror and other press about the storyline, she told us: “I was really excited, everyone was ‘Were you worried they were gonna kill you off?’ She kind of assured me of that straight away and when people decide to do that for you, that’s in the lap of the gods, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“But I was excited because it had been a while since I’d had a story, and I have to say, the feedback that I’ve had with people on social media, the amount of people that are actually going through this in real life, it’s extraordinary, I had no idea. So it’s been great that we’ve raised awareness and that people have been able to relate to it.

“Some people have written, ‘Oh my god, I’m going through the exact same thing’, where Moira is right now, they’ve gone through it in real life. I’ve been at award ceremonies where people have come up and said ‘I’ve had my tumour removed’ and then they’ve shown me the scar and said ‘I’m absolutely fine now’ and always saying ‘Don’t be scared’, like I’m actually going through it – thank goodness I’m not. So it was actually a privilege, it was an honour to get that responsibility.”

Natalie added: “The one thing I did want to make sure is with the research and speaking to a neurologist, we just got everything right, because people do go through it. When they sometime do things for dramatic effect, that’s fine, but when it’s a real life health issue then we do really have to get that right, because people can get rather upset if it’s not portrayed correctly.”

On filming the storyline and the symptoms, she told us: “It is quite intense. I have to say, doing the seizures themselves, because I really went through that with the neurologist, I was quite anxious about those because you have to get it right. The neurologist said to me, ‘Natalie, just make sure when you do it, you have a bit of a warm up because afterwards, you will feel exhausted’ and I thought ‘It’s not real’ because when people have that in real life, they can be exhausted for days after it.

“Even just doing it for a minute, I was absolutely exhausted over it, but I got somebody to video it and send it to the neurologist and he was ‘That was bang on.’ We had a lady come in and see it from a brain tumour charity and she came in to watch and make sure we did everything properly.

“Emotionally it was exhausting because of the journey of it, feeling the fear of it, going through some of the earlier scenes between Cain and Moira which were lovely where she is really scared, there was a lot of scenes because we shoot a lot of things together. We did a lot of the emotional stuff in one or two days so you’re ‘Aagh’ after that.

“But it is exhausting but it’s also rewarding when you see it go out and you know that you’ve done a good job, that’s the main thing. And having the response that I’ve had from the public, who are going through it, has been wonderful, so at least I know I’ve been doing a job because I think they would tell you otherwise as well, that’s the way it is.

“So it’s been nice for that and hopefully raising awareness. It’s very strange because with women, because it does mimic the symptoms of menopause, a lot of women don’t get diagnosed until a lot later on, and the tumour may have grown a lot by then.

“I think that’s in Moira’s case a little bit, where maybe the tumour’s been in the brain for more than they first thought on the MRI scans. So it was good to raise awareness because the mood swings. There was one point where I thought ‘I hope my sister hasn’t got this’ because she was reacting almost like that, she has little aggressive outbursts and you think ‘That’s not quite right – or you need to up your HRT medication.’ It’s good to play. I digressed.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.