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From prison husband to vicarage husband (Emmerdale 29 September - 17 October 2025)- featuring special guest Waseem Mirza!
342 Plays1 month ago
Cain is spiralling and, in many ways, so are we. As well as discussing the latest highs and lows (mainly lows) in Emmerdale Village, we also had the chance to interview Waseem Mirza, who appeared on the show this month, about his experience on the Emmerdale set!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Collaboration
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to Dingle All The Way. I'm Simon. And I'm Lizzie. And we're back to talk about the last two, maybe three weeks of Emmerdale because we we missed last week because I had COVID and Lizzie had maybe COVID COVID or something. Yeah, i think it was primarily my fault. You were all set to record and I was like, I actually can't do this. Like nothing will hum back.
00:00:22
Speaker
But we thought since we had the special bonus crossover episode, not only that people were People would cope. And what fun it was to have Scooter and Sunshine on. and Wasn't it? Weren't they great? I know. I love them. I mean, I have been obsessed with them from the Rob Rom podcast like since I found it um because I just feel like they're absolutely hilarious.
00:00:43
Speaker
And it's nice to have kind of like a parallel universe going on of like if both of us were born in America and lived there, i think maybe that's what our podcast would be like.
Admiration and Highlights from Crossover Episode
00:00:53
Speaker
Maybe it would. So it was really fun. I felt like I was meeting celebrities when we popped onto a call with them. And yeah, it was just really fun to hear their perspective on the Robron stuff and get to know them a bit. I'm sure they'll be encouraged to know I have now finished the YouTube Robron playlist of 2014, 2015, and I'm into 2016.
00:01:13
Speaker
So that's fun. I'm doing my Robron revision. been getting up to speed on all of that. So yeah, what was what was your highlight? Did you have a highlight? Well, I mean, they're both so funny. I was sad that neither them had really like invested in Jackson. I was hoping to find maybe like an ally there, but there's still time.
00:01:31
Speaker
But what I thought was so funny is that they were talking about how nervous they were to do it And it's like, you're so cool. And we're like, no offense to us, not. Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that. Sorry to loop you in with that, but obviously you're cooler than me, but like but not as cool as them. There's a hierarchy here.
00:01:51
Speaker
um So yeah, I felt like I was, I've been invited into the, into the cool gang and, um and I hope I you behaved well enough that they'll invite me back. and Well, they seem quite taken with you.
00:02:04
Speaker
A British accent goes a long way, doesn't it? It does. And the fact that you are completely surrounded by books does play into a certain stereotype of what you're like as a person. Yeah, it's not untrue.
00:02:15
Speaker
And look, they, They couldn't match my enthusiasm for Victoria. That's fine. But they they kept any disdain they had to themselves. And that's all I'm really looking for. And that is the tone of our friendship.
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, I hope that we get to link up with them again soon.
Discussion on Recent Emmerdale Storylines
00:02:30
Speaker
I guess as things progress, maybe we can get a bit of ah a read on um on what they think is going on with Kev and everything. Although... i Their last episode is titled something like, there's been no Rob Ron. And having titled the podcast, the Rob Ron podcast, and now I think having to just start talking about other things.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah. I also enjoyed from our episode before that, that some of our stranger references to the Odyssey and Sarah Bernhardt were picked up and appreciated by the listeners. So that really did give us carte blanche, think, to make our references as easy as Derek is possible.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, it is nice to know that amongst us referencing just random stuff, I don't even know. mainly sort throw a Bible verse in and hope for the best, but you're just very well read. And it's nice to pick up these things. Something I would quite like to ask, and I know that this is not a visual form of media, but all the same, what is...
00:03:25
Speaker
this sort of like large blanket thing that's obscuring like most of your screen. I don't know if you know Lizzie, but it's really helpful to have like a sort of soft fabric behind a microphone because it helps remove some of the echoes. So I propped up for like a little blanket behind and um facted on a jug on a jug. So I'm a professional podcaster.
00:03:42
Speaker
I've made a home studio out of a cat blanket and a jug I bought in a charity shop. Okay. That's lovely. and'm I'm sure everyone can hear the difference between our audio quality. I bought a microphone for this podcast, which now does not work. And I'm just using my laptop but like microphone.
00:03:59
Speaker
Who are you if you jettison the mic altogether now? I never bothered with it, Simon. And you never seem to notice. a I've got no blanket. I've not even got a microphone. Yeah, and yet somehow I think your audio is probably better than mine. I don't know. Yours is always a lot louder when I come to edit, but I then just make it work.
00:04:19
Speaker
so I guess I could turn it down. I'm not going do it now because then I'll be inconsistent. Next week, i'll turn it down. Next week, guys, we'll turn Simon down and you have to let know if it feels better on your ears.
00:04:32
Speaker
So I guess like the main story... at the moment is the sort of adolescence style. I haven't watched adolescence, but like I'm clearly ripping off adolescence of going on. I thought it was adolescent or is it adolescent? Or is it? I don't know. I don't know either.
00:04:47
Speaker
Let's not look it up. um But for those who don't know, that's a Netflix show. Again, neither us seen it, but I think it's about like toxic masculinity and young men, for like very young men, like 14 or something.
00:04:59
Speaker
um And yeah, how they're being exposed to pornography and
Complexity and Social Issues in Emmerdale
00:05:05
Speaker
misogyny and all sorts of terrible things online and how it's infecting schools today, probably. And that's what we're seeing with little Carl, who, well, the referendum was 10 and then the referendum was 11. I looked up, his birthday actually was 7th of October. So in the middle of all of this, he said a birthday that they sort of overlooked. Maybe in prison. Worst birthday ever.
00:05:26
Speaker
Yeah. um Also, was quite surprised to learn slash relearn that he is the child Jimmy's child from a sperm bank mix-up, which I guess I knew at the time, but repressed.
00:05:39
Speaker
and Nicola isn't his mum. No. um Well, I guess you might officially have adopted him at some point. But biological mom is some woman who thought she was having a child with someone else, but but but was given the wrong sperm.
00:05:51
Speaker
Gutted. And naturally thought, I'll just hand this child to them to the sperm donut rather than raise them as my own. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there, isn't there? But he has kept her surname Halliday, apparently.
00:06:03
Speaker
Oh, that does make sense of the surname thing. But as we always say, there is no rhyme and reason to why anybody has any particular surname on Emmerdale. For example, Lewis Barton.
00:06:15
Speaker
For example. Yeah, they're very committed to it being one of the biological parents, regardless of... Actually, in that case, it was Emma's surname, but not her maiden name or anything.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, no, they will just pick something that helps them delineate someone on a Wikipedia page more than anything else I think because Jimmy's brother was called Carl and they're like well we can't call both of them Carl King so I guess it's Carl Halliday for live yeah I mean there were two Tom Kings famously that's true they do it when they need to it would have been a confusing one I too have not watched Adolescent, but I do feel like Emidale are bringing up a lot of issues to light at the moment. We've got the county lines thing, they've got this thing, they've got the very cultural issue of your grandmother carrying your child. That's going on for a lot of people at the moment. and We can all relate. When we're watching it, it's like seeing a mirror, essentially.
00:07:11
Speaker
I can find myself in all three of those scenarios. I assumed you currently were pregnant with your granddaughter's child. Thank you. That means a lot.
00:07:23
Speaker
um Yeah, no, I think it is it is good to be talking about this. and I've definitely realised stuff that I didn't know before in terms of like the fact that um because they're both children, like they both just will be investigated.
00:07:35
Speaker
I don't know, like even Clemmie being investigated for that It's quite a lot, isn't it? When you're like, wow, you've just ended up in this situation, but you are, you're both a victim and you're being like treated as a lot criminal, but she's, yeah.
00:07:49
Speaker
but um committeded a crime yeah Although I suppose in the back of your mind, you are always like, would it be like that? I don't know. Because sometimes they do get it wrong. I won't hear it. But yeah, I do.
00:08:01
Speaker
I do. um I think it's wise that they have not really told us what this photo is, other than just making clear it wasn't anything too explicit. it But I think it's best to leave that sort of a bit of a mystery because we don't want to down that rabbit hole. But yeah. um And then Clemmie said that she sent it because she wanted Carl to like him.
00:08:17
Speaker
Sorry, to like her. And I was thinking like Clemmie seems quite like a clever, personable, like little girl. She seems like, you know, she's got lot going for her. Carl is absolutely charisma free. He's just, he's just sat there being like, Clemmie, sweetheart, you shouldn't do this to anyone. You shouldn't send this to anyone. But I feel like you could do better than Carl if you're if you're looking to make a boy like
Realism and Character Insights in Emmerdale
00:08:41
Speaker
you.
00:08:41
Speaker
like I just hate to say it, Simon, but like that is the female experience in so many ways. like Looking back on things and being like, him?
00:08:53
Speaker
I was bothered about that? Okay. Yeah, bless her heart. I see what you're saying, but i actually think it's the most realistic thing about Emadale. Yeah.
00:09:06
Speaker
She's like that, because I know that Carl had to sort of be silent in some of those scenes when he wasn't answering the police's questions whatever. But it was like someone had just like poured him onto the sofa and it was like not sentient. I didn't know.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was certainly a minimal script and he knew how to play that. um i My main takeaway that I've got in my notes is just Nicola truly always makes everything worse.
00:09:30
Speaker
She does, but I mean, she the actress is playing it so well. oh yeah, absolutely. She's doing a fantastic job and and she is being like very accurate to what Nicola is like and how Nicola would react. But I think she just is so like fiercely protective and so she like she just like rises to it in a way that actually is so confrontational that then the situation just spirals like the way that she spoke to dawn about clemmy was really the beginning of the end wasn't it and i did like that jimmy was there being like please stop and they knew just sort of disregarding him because that again it is quite the dynamic but yeah like she was so heartbreaking on the line to jimmy later when she was like he's just a little boy you know it was you know can see that is what she's thinking but yeah you're right she she turns like
00:10:12
Speaker
sort of mama bear protective, for also will never miss an opportunity to like have a slanging match with someone, whatever, whatever including dear sweet Laurel later. Oh, no. And I also just think like, I am really on Laurel's side, like reporting an indecent image of a child,
00:10:30
Speaker
to the school is absolutely the right thing to do and then you find out that it's your best friend son who's like receiving it sending it on and you're like oh oops that's like even more complex but that doesn't mean it wasn't the right thing to do but yeah I think Nicola has maybe lost her grip on reality somewhat because of the love that she has for Carl which I'm sure we have all been guilty for at various times where you just kind of spiral because you're so concerned about somebody I did love that Laurel told Nicola that it was her rather than it being this like you know three week long lie that got out of hand or something in classic soap style because Emmerdale does love to have a spiralling lie
00:11:09
Speaker
ah Oh my gosh, they ah they're obsessed. um Spiral... Spiralizers? That's what was saying. but Yeah, Spiralias, more like. Oh, okay, you went there. How much do you hate yourself right now for saying that?
00:11:25
Speaker
Not enough. Like, less than I should. I love that Nicola just had had some very witty lines to go i mean, I didn't like that she was feuding with Laurel, but when she... The line...
00:11:37
Speaker
i'm I'm going to go in now that I've dealt with the rubbish. Oh, and I've put the bins out. yeah Yes, Nicola. good. Yeah, I listened to the episode of the Inside Soap slash Digital Spy podcast that you sent me where they interviewed Olivia Bromley, who I love.
00:11:54
Speaker
um And she was saying it was so much fun to film those scenes where dawn and nicola were arguing and yeah just a chance for them to both like bring their a-game into in terms of acting and like work in a combination where they haven't done before and that to me was kind of wild because i'm so confrontation averse even the idea of acting a scene like that i think i would find really hard and just be like are we okay like i'm really sorry for those things i just said to you whereas like obviously for actors it must be really fun to do scenes like they're a bit more unusual or like, yeah, different combinations of people hadn't occurred to me that they might've been enjoying that.
00:12:33
Speaker
I think I would definitely enjoy it if I knew that I was good friends to the other person, but if I wasn't sure that I'd just be like, you mad at me? Yeah, maybe that's it. Yeah. and I thought there was a couple of funny things about this story, which you maybe didn't expect. One is that clearly the actor who plays Carl,
00:12:50
Speaker
has got his ears pierced or an ear pierced without permission because they took her in a line like early on like can't believe you got that ear piercing or something that was just like tossed in there i did notice that and i was like cool great you're just glossing over that in the same way as gabby's broken finger was like sort of chucked in not really fun yeah and in the defense of the actor's parents who presumably had gave him permission to have the CEO piercing. They couldn't have known that he would ever be on screen because he hasn't been for years.
00:13:20
Speaker
<unk> Never seen him. And it also amused me when they were saying about Carl and whatever the boy, whatever Dawn's son who beat him up. ah Lucas. Lucas. I mean, who knows if he's actually Dawn's biological son, but presumably he's in that network somewhere. much they're like, it's so out of character for them. It's like, how would we know their character is? We've never set eyes on them before. Yeah, and I'm not sure the parents ever have either. you know They're like, we're guessing here. It could be out of character.
00:13:45
Speaker
i honestly don't know how to spell this child's name. um But yeah, I mean, also trying to work out why... they had the weird like offscreen flooding. So it all had to happen at Lauren's house. have they Someone was asking this on Reddit, like have they demolished the King's set or something? Why did it all have to happen in Lauren's house? It's like, I'd say relatively small for one person, let alone like eight, however many people moved in there now.
00:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, really hard to know whether it's a plot device that's going to come out later or whether there was just something behind the scenes that facilitated that. But I mean, either way Jimmy got to sleep in the pirate ship and he was definitely loving that.
00:14:21
Speaker
That's true. We got to see the pirate ship again. And i always forget quite how big it is because is absurd. and It's like bigger than my actual house, I think. Yeah, I think you would need planning mission and it would be turned down.
00:14:32
Speaker
And maybe rightly so. yeah um i think my favourite bit of this whole storyline was the big reveal that um Mean Girls is Joe Tate's favourite film. course it And I truly love that for him because it is great.
00:14:44
Speaker
He has been very Regina George coded at times. He is a mean girl. um And I love that for him. Other than like in Thursday's episode yesterday,
00:14:55
Speaker
when he was ah like not really willing to talk to Dawn about her story and like her past life and the things that she went through. and he I'm really glad that she called him out on it and was a bit like, I've just started telling you this and you're just walking away. but he still didn't really give her the time of day, but then today he did listen.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah, so it did improve. And I've loved actually how they both played yesterday's and today's scenes. I think they're such good actors and it's given them a chance. I think it's obviously it's still like an out there storyline, but it's not as thought out there as like you push me through a window or I stole a kidney.
00:15:27
Speaker
So it's nice of something slightly more grounded. um And it's actually, I think the first time they've actually bought their relationship and thought maybe they should stay together was when he was actually being kind to her in today's episode. And she was trying to communicate with him yesterday and yeah yeah they're not just like two attractive people approximately the same age they actually do have some some sort of connection yeah i think the thing that still niggles in my mind is the fact that like joe told clemmy that he was gonna like send her away and was like really evil and like
00:16:02
Speaker
and we're seeing dawn now go into full like tiger mom mode and try and protect her and i'm like but you did also do this thing that really wasn't protecting her from someone who now lives with her and i think that's the bit that i'm just be like i don't think that would have happened but yeah i feel like child protection services should be like this is tip of the iceberg actually yeah Yeah, there's honestly so much going on Every single family in Emmerdale would be on a safeguarding register and rightly so. Yeah, absolutely. Just like, think, maybe just they drew a parameter around the village. sign it you're ah You're on the list, I'm afraid. um
00:16:37
Speaker
And then the whole private school thing came up, which, I mean, neither of us, I think I'm right saying neither us went to private school. yeah, absolutely not. Yeah. yeah ah And I'm sure that there are many ways in which being a private school student is easier, but I don't think they're totally free of bullying are they surely not no i think they're viewing it more as like it's a fresh start and nobody there will know your past was my impression but yeah absolutely definitely bullying happens in private schools but i suppose it nobody there would know about the photo presumably she wouldn't be taking any more after what happened because i thought they might go down like a school refuser sort of storyline which
00:17:14
Speaker
could be interesting if it weren't for the that we'd never set eyes on her so who knows where she is at any time of day I also think it's interesting they've done this whole storyline with such young children because adolescents slash adolescents whatever the Netflix show is called however many of them there yeah I think I um I was thinking adolescence with a C-E. Oh, that's true. Wow, there's so many different ways that we could play this. So many permutations. But ah i I feel like he was like, don't know, 15 or something. Whereas these are 10 slash happy birthday, Carl, 11-year-olds. And...
00:17:47
Speaker
That's so young. Like, A, do children that young have mobile mobile phones? I guess maybe they do. I don't really know any children that do. We And i I think, yeah, they definitely do. But do you remember when Clemmie got her phone and Billy was like, oh yeah this is quite a lot.
00:18:01
Speaker
And Dawn and Jo were just like, don't be so weird about it. Clemmie can have a phone. And on this very podcast, I was like, nobody knows about safety with young children and phones. And here we are.
00:18:13
Speaker
That's true. Prophetic corner. Thank But yeah, no, definitely they have access to phones. I think like, especially because a lot of children will maybe get a phone when they go to secondary school, which is when you're 11. Because then they might be like walking school or getting the bus.
00:18:28
Speaker
But like friends of mine gave their daughter a phone when she went to secondary school and she was like the last one in her friendship group to get a phone. Wow. Because, I mean, I guess I'm still of an age where I got my first phone when I was like 18. Because that's when mobiles were invented. That's how old I am. That's when telephones in general.
00:18:48
Speaker
Like like g literally nobody at my high school had an a mobile phone. Alexander Graham Bell finally marketed it. He was my classmate. um And obviously that was a phone that you could play Snake on and send text. You could like, there was, you know, smartphones are much later.
00:19:03
Speaker
So... that is ah terrifying to me. And that, you know, Laurel and Nicola had that conversation where Nicola's had their conversations, like, we should we have given them a phone? Like, we thought we had to, but now regret it.
00:19:14
Speaker
That sort of thing. um and going through his phone in today's episode where for reasons i didn't fully understand as soon as she opened up it was just like porn playing on there but like i know if that's the last thing i looked at but or if it's just riddled with viruses i don't know but i would think probably the former it's probably meant to imply that like that's something he is able to access and was accessing Yeah, yikes, yikes, yikes, yikes.
00:19:40
Speaker
So yeah, I guess, but I think the reason they've done it maybe so young is just because there aren't any older children in Emmerdale at the moment. I don't think there is anyone in that sort of 12 to 18 bracket I can think of. Yeah, I think that might be part of it. But I think that there is also huge issues around like children that young being able to access that kind of content. I'm just going to quickly look up some stats that I heard recently, but i can't fully remember what they are.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, so even in 2023, they were saying in the UK, a quarter of 16 to 21 year olds first saw pornography on the internet while they were still at primary school. Oh my gosh.
00:20:17
Speaker
And then, yeah, in 2025, there was a study showing that 8% of children aged 8 to 14 have pornography. have managed to view porn online, which is why they've then done so many more like strict age checks in the last year um like online content.
00:20:35
Speaker
So it's quite, yeah, quite current for this to be something that people are like, actually, you're so young. This should definitely not be able to to happen. So I think like maybe it is because there weren't many teenagers in the cast, but also is quite culturally relevant that it's happening at that age.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yikes. Well, it really puts the other trauma for children, ah this week in Everdale in the shade which was Kyle's football trophy I found that really really sad i know that it's like very in a very different lane to the trauma that's going on for um April as well and these other children but I found that really sad for Kyle I was wondering what this school or club, whatever it is, it's like budget for football trophies is. Because if every match they're giving away that trophy, I mean, granted, it looks like it crumbles to dust as soon as you knock it over. Yeah, they bulk bought them on Teemu. But yeah, I found that really sad. Oh, that's, you're a nicer person than am. Although I think he is doing a great job with any scenes he's in. He's a good little actor. Yeah, he's doing so well. I love that scene with him and Kane, like making up and also love the line where he was like, I don't play shooting games anymore.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I was trying to remember how he killed Al. So maybe, he did he shoot Al? Yeah, didn't he accidentally fire a gun? is that how it was? with which Yeah. Which is really funny.
00:21:52
Speaker
but um But yeah, I think he's been doing really well. I also felt a real sense of solidarity. when Isaac was sick because that's when I was really ill as well and I was like oh it's nice to be ill together although I did think looking at that that is the healthiest looking child I've ever seen like I would sell myself that glow of well-being like he was thriving um but yeah I think Cain is spiraling in a big way and but at least he seems to be recognizing that yeah liked his little apology to Liam um I like Liam's persistence in
00:22:26
Speaker
um trying to get through to him I do like you know the strange little friendship they have yeah I I think the script writing has been really good recently just like with a lot of genuinely very funny moments one of which was when Liam like tried to go for a fist bump and Kane just went why do you always do something weird yeah that was that was so bright yeah that is how I feel about Liam all the time And then Aaron asking if Kane wanted to cuddle.
00:22:51
Speaker
you know, I was like, what? And the way they did that, that was so funny. So sweet. Yeah, I think i I've sort of had enough of Kane and Moira spiraling misery and would like them to have a bit of a nice time for a bit.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, that would it would be a bonus, wouldn't it? Moira's just been doing so much. like Running a farm, kind of semi trying to make sure the car mechanic place goes okay.
00:23:16
Speaker
And Cain being away for like three weeks in no contact is a lot. And I feel like they've kind of been one of the couples that Emmerdale have been like, you guys can have a stable time in that like you guys are just together and you're not going to be in the constant revolving door of who's with who.
00:23:34
Speaker
But also that their relationship just is quite fractious the whole time. I guess just by virtue of what Cain is like. But like Moira had the affair and then the brain tumor and then Cain slept with Ruby and like all this stuff and you're like, can't you just give them a break? Like let them have maybe even six months without some major trauma. Yeah. Just like they can have a story about how they just have a nice time. Just a nice... Because someone actually asked on Reddit today, it's this was a great point.
00:23:59
Speaker
Is there any character in Emmerdale at the moment who is having a good time? And... could only really think well i put someone said in the comments cammy of course is doing all right and and lewis maybe but it's only because they're both quite new like everyone else is either grieving someone or having some sort of terrible trauma or something like that yeah i guess compared to the last year or so bell's doing better that's true but she is obviously grieving her dad very strange that bell and cammy after quite a lot of build-up just decided to call it quits because
00:24:33
Speaker
I know. I'm really gutted about that. I think that that's not the end for them. That can't be the like that can't be it. ah Yeah, because it did feel like had that sort of soap tone. You can sometimes see when they're trying to be like, we're drawing a line under this. i hope you can tell that from this scene that this story is over. And it and it had that vibe for me. but But I agree with you. It doesn't really make sense after all the build up.
00:24:52
Speaker
Unless they've got a new character coming where they're actually, we want them to have relationship with one of them. Or maybe that could finally be the friendship that we want to see more of. They might be good friends Or she might be pregnant.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, true. Yeah. well one nice what Not really one-night stand, but they slept together once and yeah that's a sure-fight way in soap to get pregs. Also, I had some thoughts about when Sam and Belle went to Zach's grave, famously without Cain, which firstly, like, it wouldn't have been that hard to just find Cain and be like, hey, you said you'd come to the grave and just bring him up.
00:25:24
Speaker
They didn't need to give up on that that quickly. But secondly, the grave looks absolutely feral. Like... They've obviously done some sort of wildflower seed bomb, which is lovely, but it looks mental.
00:25:38
Speaker
like To be fair, Zach did also look quite feral most of the time. That's Maybe it's an homage. Yeah. So yeah, those are my two main my two main thrusts.
00:25:48
Speaker
I was expecting Sam to like pour the beer onto the grave in a bit of a symbolic flourish, but that didn't happen. That would have felt quite soap. It's quite a long way up to that farm.
00:26:00
Speaker
Did he like walk all that way? Or was he like driving that tankard up whilst covering it? don't know. I've driven with a cup of tea before in a mug, which was unwise. How did it go? It is possible.
00:26:11
Speaker
like not great. and Okay. It was between my knees for some of it. Sure. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend. um yeah well, no, don't worry. I wasn't considering it. but You love tea.
00:26:24
Speaker
have tea, I also have a travel mug. Oh, so do I, but needs must sometimes. Yeah, no, you're right, and I'm sorry for saying it.
00:26:34
Speaker
ah course i but Everything else I've got just seems to be like stray storyline stuff, but I guess we we sort of covered the whole rope Rob, Rob, Ron, Kev stuff on our special episode, but we've learned yesterday that Kev is getting out. And who's he moving in with, Lizzie?
00:26:47
Speaker
He's moving in with Charles, of course, the vicar. Robert seems so unsurprised by that. Yeah, Robert's just really taking it all in his stride in quite a strange way. he just seems like, is he in a dissociative state every time he receives news about Cavs?
00:27:02
Speaker
Because he did in that prison scene have like, I think it was very good he was conveying like so many different emotions at once, but none of them seemed to be surprised that he was moving in with his local vicar.
00:27:13
Speaker
Because he could have moved anywhere in the, well, probably country, but certainly county, but rather than like, oh no, vi by some sort of strange rules of my release, I'm not allowed to move him with my husband. Okay.
00:27:24
Speaker
ah But I am permitted to lo move two doors down from him. It's all very strange. And I think it's getting a bit laughable now of like Robert obviously does act in sometimes quite strange ways. And we know that.
00:27:40
Speaker
But I just don't think he would actually be this stupid to not talk to Aaron about it. Like he would have been like, he's going to find out at some point. I'll talk to him about it. And he hasn't. Yeah, and he just, maybe it's just because he's panicking.
00:27:52
Speaker
I just wish they'd seemed, we said this the last podcast, I so just wish they'd seemed a bit happier about their reunion. and Because then if he was like really excited about that, you could sort of see more, he'd be like, I don't want to lose that. But he actually just seems quite sad to be reunited with Aaron. Yeah, I know.
00:28:06
Speaker
And I think what they're going for is that he feels quite conflicted about it all. And he can't feel truly happy because he knows about Kev and feels bad. But it's just, it all feels a bit weird. And after so much build up, I really wanted them to have like a nice reunion and a good like easy time. And we just haven't seen that. But maybe that will make it all the sweeter when they finally get back together. Like yeah publicly and Kev is dead or whatever.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah, whatever. but ah And, you know, it's no secret that I am the leader of the Victoria Supton fans club, but um particularly these last two or three weeks, every line she says is iconic because she's always just summing up.
00:28:44
Speaker
I wrote down one of them. It's disgusting of you to ask me to keep your secret whilst you play sugar baby to a dying gangster. It's so And then she referred to Miss Butch Cassidy the other day.
00:28:56
Speaker
she Everything she said, she's always just summing up how absurd it is. And then i loved also, I think it was yeah maybe yesterday, where Robert was like, you're finding this very funny. And she's like, I find it ridiculous. And I yes, Mick, it is ridiculous. And I love that you are obviously concerned and frustrated, but also able to see how absurd is and sort of.
00:29:15
Speaker
don't know if she's enjoying how absurd it is, but she is enjoying pointing out how absurd it is. Yeah, I don't think we often get many characters who break the fourth wall as often as Victoria, of just being a bit like, this is wild! Like, even for Emmerdale, this is wild, but this is happening.
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, so good. So good. i'm i did like kev the first time he saw him i liked him a bit less yesterday in prison just because he seems even like more erratic and unhinged than before i didn't know what was going on but yeah i see some people online saying they quite like him and i'm like i'm just biding my time with him to leave and the actors who play lewis and cammy i think were in like an inside soap or something like that, an interview where they said that everyone grow to love him. So he's obviously going to have some sort of charming story.
00:30:06
Speaker
maybe i don't want to have time to grow to love him. I mean, six months is a long time if he does have six months left. Yeah, true. Six months is a long time. Yeah, we're going to have to see a lot of him. Also, I'm just quite confused. i can't remember if I said this to you or not, but like how has he been able to contact Rob as much as he has?
00:30:25
Speaker
Because surely you're not allowed a phone in prison. Yeah. Well, I think he must have that as like a secret gangster phone. Oh, I guess sometimes people break rules in prison, don't they? I guess that's often where how they've ended up there.
00:30:37
Speaker
ah ah Yeah, although he did mention that he couldn't go on the on this long holiday, at least not in this life. I was like, has Kevin got a face? Has he converted into prison? he just chris planning a holiday for the beyond? Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:53
Speaker
Because, I mean, i don't think this really counts as Prophecy Corner because I think it's super obvious. But we called it Psychic Corner before, didn't we? I've Christianized Psychic Corner into Prophecy Corner. How dare you? This is not a prophecy from the Lord. But I do think that um Claudette won't take to Kev.
00:31:09
Speaker
Does Claudette take to anyone? Not a soul. But she's surely going to, but she also is not scared of anyone, it seems. So she's going to give him short shrift, I imagine. And that could be quite fun.
00:31:19
Speaker
Yeah, i like, do we just think that Kev's going to arrive and immediately be like, I can't wait to see my husband, I've got a husband in this village, blah blah blah, and then it will all just come out, and then immediately aaron will be like, hate you, bye.
00:31:32
Speaker
i mean, I assume so. can't spin out for that long. Kev is constantly talking about how much he wants to have sex with Robert, so that seems to be his number one topic of conversation around the village. It is difficult and it's tough tough to think about considering just how awkward it was when they kissed.
00:31:50
Speaker
and um As it happens, he's very keen to do it but doesn't seem to take any steps towards doing it. Which is just as well, really. Yeah, tricky. But yeah, I sort of want to see them have a little date of those horrible checkered tables in the in the shop and that's how people come across them.
00:32:05
Speaker
Because he's been in prison for a while, he might not know that that's awful. Yeah, he might not have seen any gingham in sort of like 20 years and that would be gutting for him. Yeah, he'd like, well, guess this is what but fine dining is nowadays.
00:32:17
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose so. It must be a real chance for a cultural reset for him. And nowhere better to do that than David's. Yeah, so true. feel like it would be a cultural reset just walking in there even if you lived out of prison your whole life. Yeah, I would certainly feel something if I walked in there. I don't know if cultural reset is it suddenly suddenly stick to my stomach but yeah um speaking of vickers actually if you don't mind same vicar but uh messaged my dad retired vicar about the scene where gabby just decided to do impromptu couples counseling without warning i was gonna talk about that so i said to my dad like were you ever asked to do couples counseling um and this is where replied i often counseled couples but only in the loose way we used to define counseling
00:33:03
Speaker
In latter times, I would need to explain that I've had pastoral rather than professional counselling. I was never asked formally by any outside agency to do it or ever paid, but maybe, inverted commas, could you speak to my sister and my husband?
00:33:15
Speaker
Sorry, and her husband. It's not Emmerdale. I suppose premarital meetings could in some ways be called counselling, though the early practice of talking about money and housing and sex became redundant.
00:33:26
Speaker
It's my dad's little dig at everyone living together before marriage, I think. eka Wow, okay, interesting. Which I suspect probably was happening in the 80s when he first became a vicar, but maybe people were more coy about it when they were going to visit the vicar.
00:33:40
Speaker
Yeah, probably. Yeah, I did find it um quite odd the way you just like ambushed her, ambushed Vinny with that.
00:33:50
Speaker
I'd like to know whether your dad had ever been part of an ambush or flash mob of couples counselling in a way. single of flash mob. Sitting in Emmerdale, no one can ever have an idea that they think, oh, let's do that next week. They're like, I've thought about it, so I have to do it instantly.
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah, and I will not be giving anybody any pre-warning. But like, why did she think that Vinny would open up about anything just on the spur of a moment with an almost stranger? Yeah, and if if if they do know each other, surely it's a relationship of intense dislike because, you know...
00:34:20
Speaker
They're both relatively objectionable people. Yeah, that's tricky. I thought i've sort of gone off Vinny, I think. He's just annoyed me a bit recently. Oh no, I still like Vinny. I just feel like he's quite spineless.
00:34:32
Speaker
Other than what he didn't call. What he didn't call it was great. That was beautiful. I don't know. i'm I'm also just annoyed with Gabby because she's so much more gutted about what Vinny did than the fact she actually slept with some random man in Portugal. I know. And now she's being like, don't hug Lewis. I bet you're like actually with Lewis. I'm like, what?
00:34:51
Speaker
Like get over it She's acting. mean, yeah. Even when she's like, we've both done things. It's like, no, like Vinny didn't tell you that he might be bisexual. You slept with a stranger. Those are not the same thing.
00:35:03
Speaker
They are not the same thing. and I enjoyed also that before Gabby revealed her affair, um every single conversation that laurel had with her for like the two weeks that she knew regardless of what the topic was she would bring up like don't forget that you're you're cheating insert whatever word do you want to hear but whatever it was about she'd be like oh i forgot about the milk we also have forgot that you slept with this guy it's like laurel we know she should talk about it but there's you know there's a time and a place so good yeah i mean i assume they're going to break up soon and that's fine with me
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really okay with that. I do fear that Vinny and Lewis are going to end up together. And I just feel like it feels like such a cliche. Someone's struggling with their sexuality. So they break up with Gabby and then immediately end up with a man. And you're like, that doesn't need to happen. That's not necessarily true to life. Like, I don't know. Yeah, I did find it funny on the Rob Ron podcast where they were trying to establish whether it was Gabby who'd married a gay man or her mum.
00:36:03
Speaker
I was like both are true and her mum did it twice. Gabby's done it twice and her mum's done it twice. That we know of. Yeah true. Yeah ah Lewis actually reminds of one of my stray highlights if we're on to maybe highlight section. um i don't know if you remember the sort of yellow looked sort of quilted pattern like Aztec-y sort of cardigan he was wearing.
00:36:26
Speaker
um there's reason why you wouldn't necessarily remember that but i'd say for a solid five months my all my targeted ads were about that particular cardigan from asus and i kept being like should i buy it and i ultimately decided not to because it did look slightly garish and having seen it on lewis i am like i think i probably made the right decision but it was funny you see it was like the model who was advertising on my instagram ads would come to life and change ethnicity which often happens i think after i recognize we have not really talked about the main storyline of april thing that's partly because i'm not watching it i'm just fastballing those scenes although did what i did watch today but i'm just i feel like every single episode of this podcast we say oh we should probably talk about april and dylan but we can't be bothered and it's gonna go on for ages but i feel like
00:37:17
Speaker
I think I also just find it so sad that I don't want to think about it. Yeah, I have struggled. And I don't know if you picked up on, because you have been fast forwarding at all, Rona's sort outburst.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yes, I did watch that. And I thought that it was a reminder of how good Zoe Henry is as an actor. Yeah, I found that bit like a really tough watch, but a very believable watch. Yeah.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and I feel like Rona, is it's understood understandable, isn't it, that she's really struggling, but also, like, did no one tell you that living with children and teenagers would be a sacrifice?
00:37:54
Speaker
It would appear not. Like, just deal with your anger. Don't force her back onto the streets. I guess. I mean, it has been more than you expect. So at that point, had her son had just possibly taken, or no, had taken ecstasy because he left around which is, you know.
00:38:09
Speaker
I do see that. Yeah. Although I did find it strange. I don't think it was in that particular outburst, but it was in early one about the ecstasy thing. She said, i I know that one day we'll look back and laugh at this.
00:38:19
Speaker
At what point will you look back and laugh at your you know a young child accidentally taking ecstasy? Nearly dying. Yeah. Remember that time that Leo ah like nearly died? LOL.
00:38:30
Speaker
Remember that time he had to get also nearly died? That was hilarious. My one observation here is that April did quite a fun, like, sassy stint with Ray where he she was just like, I can see through you.
00:38:45
Speaker
I don't even think that there's a number on this debt. Like, how much are we even paying back? She was completely forgotten about that. just completely forgot that the debt isn't real. yeah Yeah, she moved on. Yeah, it's kind of annoying because I'm just like, oh, you're just being sucked back into this again. Like none of it's real.
00:39:00
Speaker
Just get out of it. And what I did find it very strange in that story again, i think it was nearly look back and laugh moment, was that they obviously like, well, it's a bit bleak. How can we inject a little bit of lightheartedness in? And their solution was just to make the social worker be called Gary Barlow.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yeah, so true. I kind of lost over that in my mind, but that was unusual. Yeah. yeah sure And I speak as someone who lives around the corner from Garibaldi. He's like maybe 10 minutes walk from my house. So i should um I should pop by and see if he knows.
00:39:30
Speaker
Is it how you feel when you tell people that you're called Simon Thomas? Did I tell you about my friend and your friend Katie? ah was I went to see her the other day and they'd invite another friend who you know and I don't called Ted over.
00:39:43
Speaker
And she just told him that I was Simon Thomas from Blue Peter. And she'd screenshot of the conversation and sent it to me saying, lol. lawl And I was reading it being like, unless you've told him that I'm not Simon Thomas Rumpeter after the screenshot, then he definitely thinks I am.
00:39:59
Speaker
And he wasn't so busy walking up the stairs to come to come in. I was already there that they told him I wasn't. and He was clearly so crushed to meet me. It was real it a real bad way to start um yeah conversation.
00:40:10
Speaker
It must be hard being such disappointment all the time. yeah all which i think but i know you've told me good story before, I can't remember if it was on the podcast. maybe um i' on sorry Did I tell you that I listened to your um podcast that you do with your brother and you have ah even conversation the exact same conversation twice? it's ah carl all but You literally have the same argument and you you like say the same responses to each other. i was like and so
00:40:45
Speaker
If anyone wants to listen to that podcast, it's called Peas in a Podcast. I do another podcast with my twin brother. i do a books podcast called Teal Books. There's so many options to listen to me talking on podcasts. This is my only podcast. You will not find me elsewhere. I feel like we should maybe talk about the whole like Sarah baby thing, but I don't really have anything to say.
00:41:07
Speaker
i think the only thing I have to say is that I liked the DNA test took a bit of time because in my experience of doing a dna DNA test, which I did, I may have mentioned here before with my brother to find out whether or not we were identical twins.
00:41:19
Speaker
It took six weeks to come back. So it didn't take six weeks in the show, but at least it wasn't like, oh, we've got it two hours later, which is normally what it is in a soap. Yeah, it's good to have it a bit more realistic.
00:41:30
Speaker
um Something I quite enjoyed was when Sarah told Mac and Charity that they should treat themselves why don't you go out to the pub oh you mean charity's place of work all the time like when did that become a treat that's so true i do and like and also i i get that sarah thinks that charity is carrying her baby and she wants to protect her but every single moment she's like have you eaten blueberries today have a sit down she's so annoying and when when she wanted to have a lift into town to like buy a pram or something and charity wasn't free to take them because I think she like literally had to work or something and Sarah was like oh I just really wanted you to be involved in this baby and I'm what she is involved she's carrying it she's literally pregnant with the baby you not getting a lift into town doesn't need to become big discussion about whether or not she's involved in your pregnancy
00:42:18
Speaker
the amount of times people in in emmerdale indeed also think it's unreasonable if you can't drop everything they're doing in the middle of the working day and granted we are recording this podcast in the middle of the working day but we but we've made time also how are jacob and sarah living in that tiny village in the middle of nowhere at their age and not able to drive because dylan's shown us you can learn to drive in a week and a half if need be yeah so true they need to crack on it's rude and was it I mean, I don't understand how Dylan learned to drive so quickly. So it took me like 11 months to learn to drive. And i was it I didn't practice outside lessons because I lived in Oxford without anyone who had a car. but
00:42:55
Speaker
But it was still to quite a while, whereas Dylan literally, mean, it's hard. you You have to book driving tests like 10 weeks in advance at the moment. so Yeah, I was going to say he would not have got a test that quickly. He might have learned to drive that quickly because he went on those intensive driving courses that Ray bought him.
00:43:09
Speaker
But he would not have got a test within like eight weeks. no And i'm grateful that Jay was like, no, of course you can't drive this like haulage lorry when you pass your test last week. just Presumably you need like a separate sort of like lorry license or something anyway.
00:43:23
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you do have to have been driving. Yeah, maybe you have be over 25 or something. I don't know. Probably, yeah. He was absolutely not ever going able to do that. It was nice if we saw Billy. and i mean, it's been a couple scenes after being off screen for maybe a year. So it was nice to see him again. That's true.
00:43:37
Speaker
I didn don't know about you, but I don't really have anything else to say. will I've just got two more things I wrote down. if if Three more things. Oh my gosh. it' said well I liked that Paddy referenced the Countdown theme song because... um ah yes paddy would watch countdown and i was on countdown back in 2006 so that little home from home um i also noted like what the air be sorry the b b bob's b&b being full it's like why on earth would anyone ever want to stay here sure yeah who is that full with like does emerald have any tourist attractions also sorry i'm a slow processor but do you think that um the character of paddy watched you on countdown
00:44:15
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I guess he would have done. So what it was 20 years ago. So he would have, is he like 50, I guess, maybe? Honestly, very different style. Ageless. Ageless one.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess he probably did. That's nice to think that um he saw me lose my only game of Countdown. Sorry to hear that. but Sorry to bring it up so publicly. I guess it happened quite publicly. but Yeah, that's true. It was literally televised.
00:44:40
Speaker
um And you can indeed go to Countdown Wiki and find out all the words I said. um Should you say what? That's an option for everyone. don't know if any of us will, but thank you.
00:44:51
Speaker
I'll put a link in the show notes. I won't do that. you' doing this time sos um I am. ah My final thing is it amused me when in the whole prostate the prostate cancer thing, Liam thankfully doesn't have prostate cancer, but I think it was Chaz said things like this will make you realize how much you love someone.
00:45:08
Speaker
And in this case, that did seem to be not at all. like Yeah, but she was barely there. and that She was totally unconcerned. with She was just free and breezy. Read the whole topic.
00:45:20
Speaker
Surely they're going to break up soon. They seem to have no interest in one another. yeah absolutely zero. Yeah. um And that's fine. They don't work together. It would be a relief not to see them try and make it work anymore.
00:45:34
Speaker
It's not even like they're having problems. They just ah don't have anything good about the relationship either. No, they don't like each other. They've never spent any time with each other. So let's just call that one a day. i don't know if they'd recognize each other on the street. would be out-bushed.
00:45:46
Speaker
um Right, random random name. We've mentioned lot names. So maybe it was someone to come up. Oh, we haven't mentioned this guy yet. We're doing Marlon. Oh, Marlon. I really like Marlon other than the fact I think he's a ridiculously overprotective father.
00:46:00
Speaker
Yeah, i I like that he has often been like a comedy character in the past. I know we haven't seen much of that and recently, but him and Paddy have that wonderful dynamic where they obviously have worked together so often that they do have a good like comic shorthand between them.
00:46:15
Speaker
And I like that he's a dingle who isn't too dingle. Like, he's in the family, but he's not gonna... Like, we've got a moral dingle, which is quite nice. Yeah, he's, like, much less likely to beat you up. Yeah, and i can't remember at all how he's related to the rest of the dingles.
00:46:28
Speaker
I wouldn't like to say. yeah I think having mainly watched Emmerdale over the last sort of 18 months or so I wouldn't see him as a comedy character. He's mainly just been chasing around after April.
00:46:41
Speaker
But yeah, having now watched quite a lot of, like, 2014, 15, 16...
00:46:45
Speaker
Rob Ron playlists. Yeah. um I'm realising he used to be really, really much more funny and like much more light relief than he is currently. So it'd be nice to see him a bit more in that role again. That's true. And they often do give their comedy characters quite dark storylines just to be like, oh, look, it can happen to anyone. And neither of us were watching when he had the stroke. only That was quite powerful storyline.
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, fair. um But yeah, and we i I particularly liked the era that you might have seen the Rob Run playlist when he and Victoria were like chefs together in the pub because they they had a fun dynamic, not least because he is four times her height. So that was a quite fun.
00:47:23
Speaker
But he's been there forever. And he was one of the few actors I knew elsewhere because my mum always used to watch Cadfile and he was one of the monks in Cadfile. And he he left that to go to Emmerdale and never looked back. He'd been there like 20 years.
00:47:36
Speaker
that 30 years don't know a long time what charlie so in conclusion we like marlon we like marlon yeah of course and we like to see him a bit more fun yeah if only and have we seen any farming content not really we've seen moira sort of like delivering things to the pub and being stressed but that's about she fell over in a field oh yeah what was going on there i feel like they sort brushed that under the carpet towards the end of this week yeah like a stress fall i don't know Did she just sort of, like, she did appear to lose consciousness. It wasn't just that she fell.
00:48:06
Speaker
That's true. And they do seem to have been like, oh, she's just a bit run down. It's like, I think if you just blacked out, you should probably go and see someone. Yeah. I was like, is the tumour back? Oh, gosh. We can't get through that again.
00:48:17
Speaker
i know. I can't be bothered. No, frankly. can't be bothered with another tumour. Yeah, keep it to yourself, Moira. um Yeah, so not masters of farming. There's been some standing in fields, some falling in fields.
00:48:32
Speaker
And Joe doesn't appear to be buying a field anymore. No, Robert's big plan to do stuff afield seems to be be on the back burner. But he's got a lot going on, so that is understandable.
00:48:44
Speaker
He has got a prison husband. he's got a prison husband, who I hope they will start referring to just as a husband, when he's no longer in prison. I do keep thinking back to your comment where was like, somebody in the Emmerdale script writing team has heard the phrase prison husband, not really got to the bottom of what it means, but decided that that needs to be part of the show.
00:49:06
Speaker
Maybe everyone will refer to him as like a vicarage husband when he's moved to Munchak.
00:49:11
Speaker
Except, of course, famously, there is no vicarage in Emmerdale, so guess they win. Famously. Lovely. Well, i feel like we've, you know, got to the bottom of all sorts of things here. Yeah, no, we truly have. And and people are spotted that there is still like 15 minutes left of this episode or however long. And that's because we've got a lovely little interview with a guy called Waseem. Who's Waseem, Lizzie?
00:49:32
Speaker
Waseem is um an actor based in Milton Keynes, famously. Yeah. who approached us asking if we would like to interview him because he recently played the border control officer in Emmerdale when John was hiding in the van.
00:49:50
Speaker
He was in that scene. um And so we said, of course, we would love to speak to him. I unfortunately then was too ill to do that. But Simon did a great interview with him. And um yeah, we heard all about what it was like to film um on the Emmerdale set and yeah, his experience there. So we were really grateful for some time with the scene. And well, Simon was grateful some time with the scene. I was grateful to then hear it later. um And yeah, it was really great fun, wasn't it?
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah, so keep listening ah to find out where they filmed it. There's little spoiler. You won't believe where they filmed the Border Control team. You won't believe it because there were seagulls in the background. you know what? It may not have been at the seaside. AI seagulls.
00:50:35
Speaker
Yeah, they just AI'd the seagulls And we'll leave it there. So yeah, over to me, I guess, and Haseem. Yeah, thanks everybody for listening.
00:50:46
Speaker
Bye.
00:50:49
Speaker
Hello, we're here with a little extra bonus fit, Dingle, all the way with our first ever person who's actually been in Emmerdale. I'm delighted that I'm joined by Waseem Merza. Hello, Waseem. Oh, hi Thank you so much for having me.
00:51:02
Speaker
if pure if If listeners cast their minds back to, I think, the 25th of September this year, they will have seen you in Emmerdale. Can you tell us a bit about who you played, what your character was?
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I played the border officer. And I knew from the moment I read the script um at the start of summer that it was a high stakes moment within the show.
00:51:29
Speaker
ah But because of the way, because of all these soaps and series are done with a lot of secrecy in mind, I didn't know back then the actual characters, the actual real characters behind that storyline because the names had been changed on the scripts.
00:51:46
Speaker
and And they do that for very good reasons. And of course, each script side is watermarked with my first name, so they know if it gets leaked out where it came from. um And so, but that part of it didn't really ah throw me um as I couldn't picture who in the current cast was playing those roles.
00:52:13
Speaker
ah They were completely made up names. Yeah. It was awry there. And it was only um when I got called onto set that I realised just who ah these main characters were that I'd be playing alongside.
00:52:28
Speaker
And then it made complete sense. um with all the speculation around um the Sugdens and the big departure. Exactly. so to remind trymaine people, you were, as you say, border officer, Caleb was transporting John out of the country, ah hidden behind some cardboard boxes, slightly inexpertly. but um Now, you said in the email to us that your aunt had done a similar job. Is that right?
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah, um this is quite a surreal moment because when when I read through the script, I thought, well, who better to help me on this than my aunt, Aunt Taz, as we call her.
00:53:10
Speaker
um And she spent a career, lifetime with the Home Office and Border Force. um It was her first job out of school at the age of 16, and she became known as a lifer.
00:53:24
Speaker
at the home office and she worked her way up um from the very bottom and worked her way up to a management role at the home office and then border force from where she retired only last year so I thought she was perfect to give me a sort of a grounding on what border force do how they go about doing their checks and what kind of challenges they come up against and I thought it would be useful as part of my character research just to get me in in the zone And um and it obviously it it turned out very well, except I have to say there were so many issues at the time of my audition.
00:54:04
Speaker
Things just went wrong at my end completely. okay so Yeah, we're we're in this new world of doing self tapes ever since we came back out of COVID. And I'd set up my self tape rig.
00:54:18
Speaker
ah with all the lights and camera and the tripod rested upon her on top of a bed, on top of a bed, something that's tight, stuff that you wouldn't know if you were watching my self-tape.
00:54:32
Speaker
um And I had an air conditioner blowing at me in between the breaks of doing my scenes um because it was so hot. Was it during the heat wave? Yeah.
00:54:43
Speaker
It was probably the hottest summer I've experienced here. and it was a challenge doing it with that heat and the constant hot air. But I didn't really realise what impact that heat was having on my self-tape equipment.
00:54:59
Speaker
The camera that I was using i had ah an SD memory card which I was using to store all the footage before having to edit it and send the best takes to the casting director through my agent.
00:55:11
Speaker
And it turned out during the last take, ah the one that I was happiest with, the actual card had melted. and so I lost all that footage um and I couldn't send it. had to rearrange to have a reader with me.
00:55:27
Speaker
And in the acting world, it's very common to to ask friends or other acting friends to ah to to step in as your reader. Or you can find them on online marketplaces and actors between themselves. They organize that.
00:55:43
Speaker
So I had to go about finding somebody else at very short notice. um And yeah. and ah And of course, you can't imagine the kind of terror that you go through, given that you then get told that you're through to a ah recall audition, which is a big moment. that It means that the director, the producer, of the team like you a lot and you're down to the very last few.
00:56:13
Speaker
um Yeah. And so the stakes are even higher, let alone the story that you're meant to be playing. So and then when you have a situation where you lose your footage, ah it can throw you back.
00:56:26
Speaker
and And I've never had something like this happen before. So it was a bit of a challenge. um But there was a um a casting director turned actor, trainer, stroke coach that really helped me out. Emma Crompton.
00:56:42
Speaker
If you're out there, thank you so much. Shout out to Emma. Thank you, Emma. She stepped in at the very last minute with very little time and not only coached me to give me the best possible performance that I could do in the circumstances, but she...
00:56:59
Speaker
ah Yeah, she was just great to calm me down after such a terrible few days coping with tech. there we go. And then the next day thing I know, i get a call from my agent telling me, you've got it.
00:57:14
Speaker
yeah Amazing. What was that feeling like? ah Absolutely incredible because this was, I'd never done role or even auditioned for a soap before.
00:57:25
Speaker
So this was a very first thing for me. And I thought, wow, amazing. Absolutely incredible. And the second thing I did, um I rang up my aunt and told her, yep, I got it.
00:57:37
Speaker
And she's the biggest fan. Oh, brilliant. and she Yeah, absolutely big fan of Emma Dale and also Coronation Street. um Yeah, so she was thrilled and i well I was just so thankful to her as well for everything she did.
00:57:59
Speaker
I only literally had an hour conversation with her, an hours long conversation, and that was enough to set my mind in the right path that eventually helped me get it. So yeah.
00:58:10
Speaker
So I've got two people, acting coach and my aunt, most of all. yeah ah I'm interested to know what her take on watching this scene was, because Lizzie and I often talk about how in Emmerdale, the police tend to be pretty bad at their jobs. And I will say that your your character...
00:58:25
Speaker
He didn't do it the most thorough search in the world. It wasn't, was it? And and um in in terms of the real life thing, you've also got the issue with ah the the sniffer dog.
00:58:37
Speaker
In reality, that isn't the way it would be played. I would have taken on board what the sniffer dog was alluding to and taken appropriate action. But there's all sorts of pressures involved in condensing a story to make it watchable for television and um keeping to time.
00:58:58
Speaker
And so I think the team did a fantastic job trying to fit so much into such a short space of time, um but still giving the sense of urgency and the high stakes that we didn't get um distracted from.
00:59:14
Speaker
Except for the moment of with that cuddly toy, I think. was It's nice little bit of light relief in quite a tense week of episodes. It was nice to have a little little bit of un-credited role by a stuffed animal.
00:59:26
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. and And it made sense to me as well afterwards, seeing that because of that tense, as you call it, the tense week, um it was really important to get that sort of lightness in there.
00:59:39
Speaker
am mu store the drama And yeah, of course, a really important scene. um but Yeah, I think the the balance was great. um Yeah, it could have been all shock horror, ah but I think people have been on that journey a lot. So it's important keep the balance right. And that's what soaps do so well, is that balance. Absolutely. yeah ah we were also intrigued. and we I re-watched the scene this afternoon, and I sort of heard this site piped in seagulls, but i'm I'm wondering where it was actually filmed. I'm assuming not by the coast.
01:00:10
Speaker
Nope, not at all. It was absolutely filmed.
01:00:14
Speaker
It was filmed in the back car park of ITV Leeds.
01:00:19
Speaker
The magic of set design. Well done to the set designers. Absolutely. ah but you You really couldn't tell, could you? and And they chose the right day as well because it wasn't so sunny.
01:00:32
Speaker
um There was a bit of a lull in summer. So it allowed us to get away with an overcast bit, which they wanted, given it's an episode that would have gone out in September, so October. So they needed that weather.
01:00:47
Speaker
to be on ball um which made it difficult for me because i was wearing all those layers upon layers um and it was so hot while we were filming even though it was overcast it was still very muggy that day oh well done yes oh yeah so yeah so it does it it looks like it's it's been shot literally in the same week that it aired but no it didn't it wasn't no So remind me, how how long in advance was it shot before the 25th of September?
01:01:18
Speaker
Two months. Two months. Yeah. And we often hear, you know, when I read interviews with soap stars and things about soaps just being so fast, like have to get scenes done really quickly. like ah well How is it compared to your experience filming other things? Was it was it speedier?
01:01:33
Speaker
but Were there fewer takes? I don't know what what the what the dynamic was like. Oh, I've got a few words to describe that. um And I'm going to borrow the words from my agent, the way she described it.
01:01:44
Speaker
and Emmerdale is one of the longest running soaps in Britain, and it's a well-oiled machine. And that was very apparent from the moment I stepped foot um for my hair and makeup and wardrobe session the day before filming ah to the to the point where I left.
01:02:05
Speaker
And Yeah. And I just saw a massive team working so hard together, um which is unlike what I've experienced in other places where everybody's freelance and they may not all have worked together with ah before ah because of the nature of their freelance roles. But this team They're on this set, this well-oiled machine, as like as my agent called it.
01:02:32
Speaker
And they know what everyone's doing and everything is so efficient. It's super efficient because of that. And that was an eye opener for me. And in fact, it was almost reminiscent of my time in television news, which was my previous career where where I started in this career.
01:02:51
Speaker
television business and um decided to make the make the change a couple of weeks before the pandemic and went to school.
01:03:02
Speaker
So yeah, it reminded me of live television and the pressures that go on with that. But given that the teams are so regular and they know each other, I think they can get a really well done result and a really good efficient workflow and that's what they need every day.
01:03:24
Speaker
um They work so hard um to to give viewers the best that they possibly can. um And it was great to be a part of it, even such a um ah small contribution in the grand scheme of things. But it was so important for me to to go through that and learn from it. And it was great learning experience as well for the future.
01:03:47
Speaker
Yeah. yeah And are you an Emmerdale viewer yourself? Do you know what? I've been hooked ever since my ever since I took the script. I haven't been able to stop watching.
01:03:59
Speaker
and And like many people, I've noticed those wanted posters for John. And um i can't wait for for the Corridale.
01:04:10
Speaker
I really can't watch it. Yeah. I mean, Lizzie and have said, like, neither of us watch Coronation Street, so we're going to be quite confused, but we're we're still excited for it. We're going to enjoy the crossover anyway. I great. A fantastic idea.
01:04:21
Speaker
Why not bring these two powerhouses of television together um and see what happens and see what the reaction is? And of course, it will be led by the audience in which direction things go.
01:04:33
Speaker
But I think it's really exciting um because you can only get better stuff with... Well, I always think two heads are better than one. And when you put these two powerhouses together, um it should be unstoppable.
01:04:46
Speaker
Yeah. or We have the tricky thing, of course, that the actor who plays John, um Oliver Farnsworth, was also in Coronation Street and his character is dead in the world of Coronation Street. So how will they get around that? We don't know. I'm excited to find out.
01:04:58
Speaker
Never let the facts get in the way of it. that's the thing with soap. You've got to roll with the punches. yeah so did you have to sign like an NDA and stuff about after you'd done your scene um yeah um so I will I wasn't able to to say what my character was or what I did or the storyline or indeed what show it was until the day of broadcast yeah yeah exciting because I mean you were I mean I guess there's always things happening in Soph but We could have believed that John was dead if until we'd seen that episode. So, you know, he was, he came pretty near death quite a few times in the episodes leading up to that. So yeah, if you'd, if you'd been out there saying, filming a,
01:05:36
Speaker
here's a photo of my scene with John. and it would have yeah given the game away. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what? That was really tricky. um Not letting anyone see that photo that I had, um which was ah a bit of a BTS behind the scenes shot done.
01:05:52
Speaker
um And yeah, very, very difficult given, given, what you know, everything about You want to share it with everyone. Yeah. And also my aunt who I wasn't ah able to tell, Oh, by the way, this is for one,
01:06:03
Speaker
the biggest show that you're you're a fan of. um But yeah, i will tell I promise to tell you on the day.
01:06:12
Speaker
And people can see those behind the scenes shots at Rasim's Instagram. Remember me what your handle is? It's at the Wasim Mirza. There we go ah One final question for me, which I should, you know, you've mentioned the dog. People say don't work with children or animals. How how is the sniffer dog to work with?
01:06:28
Speaker
Do you know what? Absolutely great. um And this is very unlike my other previous experiences of working with dogs on TV. um This particular dog, a well-trained dog.
01:06:41
Speaker
And if I remember correctly, it was supplied by a professional um dog trainer. And I think if i if I'm not wrong, it was actually police trained.
01:06:53
Speaker
And so it is the real deal. And that probably goes some way to explain how I found it to be so easy to work with in that situation. ah The dog was really doing everything on cue the way it was supposed to do.
01:07:07
Speaker
um And there were absolutely no issues at all. In fact, we were also taken aback on the day of the shoot. I remember we were taking some time out just to... have a bit of ah a play with the dog and just yeah it was just so adorable absolutely adorable and there was no problems at all um yeah i know it's a it's a bit of a cliche now never work with children or animals on tv but no on this occasion i can't say that and emerald has got plenty of both of them so you know they managed to make it work uh well i said final question but my actual final question what what's what should we look out for anything new coming up anything you want to plug
01:07:44
Speaker
o i I wish I could say a lot about something that's coming up at the start of the new year but unfortunately it's such a heavy NDA the only thing I can say is science fiction and it's something that I grew up watching and it it was a dream come true to be there filming it with, with such greats all around me. It was almost like my pinch me moment.
01:08:16
Speaker
Uh, so that I think is the biggest thing on the horizon in the short term. And it's coming very, very, very soon. Early start of the new year.
01:08:28
Speaker
So that's really exciting. the the The other thing that I can go into some detail about is a documentary that I've been filming all through the summer, looking at um how AI is changing the world of travel, language and culture.
01:08:46
Speaker
We're talking about instant AI translation. And now you've got big social media companies going into this space in a big way with ah spectacles and glasses that can actually do the work of translation in real time.
01:09:01
Speaker
So we thought um we would, with a ah group of documentary makers, ah travel around Europe and the UK, putting this tech to the test to find out whether it actually does work.
01:09:15
Speaker
And we've got a few surprises up our sleeves on that. But I think it's going to be a really thought-provoking documentary about the dangers and the benefits.
01:09:26
Speaker
Wow, fascinating. Well, we'll definitely keep an out for that. Thanks so much for being with us, Sussima, and for drawing back the curtain on on how things work at Emmerdale. It's been really fun talking with you. ah You're so, so welcome. Thank you so much for having me.