Paula Lane has swapped Coronation Street for Emmerdale in her new role as she joins the ITV soap as Ella Forster.
Paula is best known for playing Kylie Platt in Corrie, who tragically died in her husband David’s (Jack P Shepherd) arms in 2016 after being stabbed.
We will meet Ella next week when Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) attends a vet gala with Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt). When a managing director called Jules rudely teases her about her dress, Mandy’s blood boils but Paddy panders to him and refuses to introduce Mandy as his girlfriend.
Later on, after overhearing Jules lambasting his PA, Ella, Mandy consoles her.
Ella heads to the village
When Jules continues to make harsh comments towards Mandy, Ella gets revenge and pours a drink over him.
Eventually, Ella will arrive in the village and begin interacting with other characters. As she gets settled in, the newcomer finds herself involved in an interesting romance storyline while working at the surgery.
‘There’s already been a relationship going on there at the minute in the surgery’, Paula Lane teased. ‘So I don’t know. There might be some fireworks, there’s a little bit of competition, perhaps. Little love triangle going on.
‘But behind closed doors, who knows what can happen. So there’s a brand new set that we’re actually building, surgery is going to be on Main Street. And that’s when all this character will kind of come in, I’m going to be at the heart of the village, working out the new surgery.’
Reflecting on Ella’s friendship with Mandy, Paula said:
‘I always feel that my strengths sort of lie in that area, as well as playing a bit of tragedy as well. But yeah, good to kind of have an equal mix.
‘I think it comes about because Ella’s boss at the time has just been pushing her and pushing and pushing. And it’s the final straw when she just sees him humiliate Mandy, and she really wants to stand up for her. And I think through that, obviously, Mandy just sees that. Yeah, she’s a good friend to have. And they just immediately have this spark. And it develops from there.’
Discussing casting and creating the role of Ella, Paula revealed that ‘Timings wise, I think I manifested it!’
‘And then a conversation came about and through that a seed was planted, and then the magic happens. So I think it was just yeah, a little bit of a coincidence. But it fell in my lap. And I feel really grateful and very thankful. And like I said, I just want to do the best that I can do.’
It’s hard to believe Paula left Coronation Street way back in 2016. As she continued her chat, she reflected on leaving the show what happened afterwards, and how she knew now was the right time to feature in another soap.
‘I’m always a big believer in going with kind of what’s put in front of you. And the past seven years have been really exciting. I mean, I’ve covered loads of theatre, covered lots of ground, as well as raising my family, and doing guest roles on different TV programmes as well. So I think obviously like you’re saying, when you are such a familiar face, it’s nice to give the audience a bit of a breather.
‘And I feel like I’ve changed as well, you know, personally, as well. So I think, yeah, it’s a good bit of time that’s passed. And I think that’s healthy.’
‘I feel like I’m gonna really fit in here’, she smiled.
‘It works for me family-wise. We’re based in Hebden Bridge. So as an actor, that’s brilliant. I feel I’m very much at home here, even just pulling up in the village.
‘So just to create a brand new character, that’s what’s going to be really important for me now moving on, is that I develop something that’s going to be completely different to what people have seen seven years ago now, can you believe I think enough time has passed to be able to branch out and be seen as something different.’
