Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has admitted that there’s ‘never a day’ she feels ‘safe’ from being axed as a jobbing actor on the soap.
The actress, 48, has played Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap on and off since 1995, but has candidly told how she and her fellow cast members don’t take their jobs for granted amid ever going changes.
ITV recently confirmed that Coronation Street and Emmerdale will move to a new scheduling pattern amid ongoing budget cuts, while a number of cast have either quit or have been axed in recent months.
Addressing the lack of job security, Lisa revealed in a new interview that she’s well aware her position on the soap can change at any moment, noting that producer’s treat the cast ‘like chess pieces’ when it comes to the control of their fate.
She told The Mirror: ‘We are all jobbing actors on the soap and there is never a day where we come in and go: “Oh we are safe”. We are a chess piece on the producer’s board. Whatever they bring to us, we bring it to the screen.
‘And there is always going to be a day when a new producer might come in and need a big wipe out. That is what keeps the audience involved too and so we have to keep up with the climate of what people expect.’
Emmerdale star Lisa Riley has admitted that there’s ‘never a day’ she feels ‘safe’ from being axed as a jobbing actor on the soap
The actress, 48, has played Mandy Dingle in the ITV soap on and off since 1995, but has candidly told how she and her fellow cast members don’t take their jobs for granted amid ever going changes
Despite sometimes facing job uncertainty, Lisa told how she loves being on the soap as she praised just how hard soap operas work in comparison to other dramas.
She added: ‘Whenever I am out and about, people tell me: “We love Emmerdale”. The fact that I get to be part of it is wonderful. ITV make some big dramas that can be five episodes long. We do five parts in a week. The hamster wheel never stops.’
Lisa’s talk about episodes comes amid a huge shake-up for both Coronation Street and Emmerdale as episodes have been slashed as ITV budget cuts rage on.
Emmerdale currently airs six episodes weekly, Monday to Friday with a double bill on Thursdays.
Meanwhile, Coronation Street also airs six episodes per week, with two episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Now, only five 30-minute episodes of each show will air – a real terms cut to soap broadcast time of 17%.
Bosses will now introduce a soaps power hour from Monday to Friday with 30-minute Emmerdale episodes airing at 8pm and 30-minute Coronation Street episodes airing at 8:30pm.
However, each episode will continue to drop at 7am on ITVX before transmission that same evening.
ITV recently confirmed that Coronation Street and Emmerdale will move to a new scheduling pattern amid ongoing budget cuts, while a number of cast have either quit or have been axed in recent months
Addressing the lack of job security, Lisa revealed in a new interview that she’s well aware her position on the soap can change at any moment, noting that producer’s treat the cast ‘like chess pieces’ when it comes to the control of their fate.
‘We are all jobbing actors on the soap and there is never a day where we come in and go: “Oh we are safe”. We are a chess piece on the producer’s board. Whatever they bring to us, we bring it to the screen’
However the start of the new 2026 schedule will at least be marked in style, as both soaps embark on an ambitious, never-before-seen stunt as part of a week of special episodes.
Elsewhere, amid Lisa’s fears for her job, her character Mandy could find herself in peril as several characters are involved in a huge limo crash – with one character not making it out alive.
Recent scenes showed a group of the ladies and a group of lads heading off in separate limos for a fun night out.
In a twist, Mandy and Liam Cavanagh swapped places so that the doctor could be close to girlfriend Chas Dingle amid his grand plans to propose.
However, in a shock turn of events, the two vehicles collide, resulting in one plummeting bonnet-first into a frozen lake, with one villager sadly losing their life.
Emmerdale fans will just have to wait and see who makes it out alive.
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