Lisa Riley: I won't wear Mandy's clothes away from Emmerdale

Lisa Riley says she can’t “wear leopard print” in real life because of her 'Emmerdale' character Mandy Dingle.

The ‘Emmerdale’ star refuses to dress like her larger-than-life alter ego - a character she has played on and off since 1995 - when she’s not on set, because it draws too much attention to her when she is living her day-to-day life.

She said: “I can’t wear leopard print as myself.”

Lisa departed the show in 2000 to explore other avenues, but she returned in 2019 and she admits it's been a blast because she knows the writers on the ITV soap will never give her "boring" plots.

Speaking to My Weekly magazine, she said: "After all these years, the writers never tire of Mandy. I get excited when I get the scripts and I know I’m never going to have a boring story.”

The former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant also loves how her character will do anything to have a laugh in the Yorkshire Dales.

Lisa said: ‘Comedy wise there’s nothing Mandy hasn’t done. I’ve been in a skip. I’ve been in a bin, I’ve been in everything! There’s nothing that she hasn’t done and for that very reason alone it’s very exciting. Moving forward it’s going to be even more exciting.”

The former ‘Fat Friends’ star admitted to feeling “cemented” in the soap as it gears up to mark its five decades of being on air.

Lisa shared: “It’s amazing to celebrate 50 years. I’m the longest serving Dingle female and I’m so proud. I look at the show - and the clump in the middle - I genuinely feel like I never left. I feel so cemented in the show.”