Emmerdale star Isabel Hodgins is getting ready for ‘another job’ as she prepares to say goodbye to the ITV soap for her maternity leave.
The actress, who has played Victoria Sugden since 2006, has been involved in some major storylines over the years, and has most recently been completely blindsided by murderous brother John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth).
However, the character is soon set to depart the Emmerdale village as Isabel heads on maternity leave, having announced her pregnancy earlier this year.
It’s been a great year for the 31-year-old, who months before the announcement married partner Adam Whitehead.
When I caught up with her at this year’s Cure Usher Ball, hosted by Emmerdale co-stars Mark Jordon and Laura Norton, the mum-to-be was glowing as she discussed this new chapter.
‘The idea of not being [at Emmerdale] while I’m on maternity leave, that’s crazy!’ She said.
Though she knows her exit is coming, the actress admitted that she isn’t sure yet how Victoria will leave the village.
‘It’s still a surprise. They’re still cooking something up and we’ll see!’
Fortunately, there is still plenty more drama to be had before we have to say goodbye, and that all starts in upcoming scenes when a face from Robert Sugden’s (Ryan Hawley) past comes knocking.
Clearly not wanting any of his neighbours to see this mystery man hanging around on the doorstep, Robert ushers him inside, where it becomes clear that the two men know each other from prison.
When Victoria arrives home, she is bemused to find them holding hands, and when Robert works hard to get his visitor to leave, he gets a raised eyebrow from his sister.
‘It’s a great twist to the story,’ Isabel enthused during our chat.
‘It’s a great character. I’ve really enjoyed working with them, and the audience are going to be in for a ride!’
Isabel was one of many soap stars to attend the Cure Usher ball this year, hoping to raise plenty of money to put towards on-going research into curing Usher syndrome.
Usher syndrome is a rare, incurable genetic condition which affects vision and hearing and, in some cases, balance. Children with the condition are born with some degree of hearing loss, and eventually start to lose their sight as they reach their teens.
Mark and Laura have led the charge in raising awareness of the condition since their children, Jesse and Ronnie, were diagnosed.
As patrons of the Cure Usher charity, they told me that they are constantly trying to come up with new and exciting ways to fundraise, with Laura revealing that there have been some more ‘breakthroughs’ in the research into finding a cure.
The support from their Emmerdale peers clearly means a lot to the Daz Spencer and Kerry Wyatt stars, as Mark told us.
‘It’s always a very busy event to get organised, but when all those smiley, happy faces come in, all our friends, it feels so good!’
