Rebecca Sarker has 'special place in her heart' for Bill Roache

Rebecca Sarker has a "special place in her heart" for Bill Roache.

The 'Emmerdale' actress admits she has a soft spot for her former 'Coronation Street' co-star - who plays Ken Barlow in the show - after he helped her out when she first started out in Weatherfield, playing Nita Desai from 1999 to 2000.

When asked who her favourite soap character of all time is, she said: "I have a special place in my heart for Ken Barlow, and Bill Roache was so kind to me when I started on 'Corrie'.

"He's such a polite and charming man."

As well as 89-year-old Bill, Rebecca is also a huge fan of a number of other soap royalty, including EastEnders' 'Dirty' Den Watts - who was played by late actor Leslie Grantham - and she had a crush on 'Neighbours' star turned Hollywood actor Guy Pearce back when he used to frequent Erinsborough.

She said: "I have a lot of close favourites, too - Dirty Den in 'EastEnders', Scott and Charlene from 'Neighbours'.

"I also had a huge crush on Guy Pearce [Neighbours' Mike Young] and Larry Hagman [JR from 'Dallas']."

The 47-year-old star - who now plays Manpreet Sharma in 'Emmerdale' - admits if she had to play another Dales character in the soap she would pick Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell).

She added to Inside Soap magazine: "I'd play Zak Dingle. He's 'Emmerdale' royalty, and he commands respect even when his only line in a scene is, 'Shall we crack open a tinny?' "