As Emmerdale’s Mandy Dingle, Lisa Riley’s been through plenty of hard-hitting storylines. But none have hit home quite so much as the scenes she’s living through this week.
On Wednesday viewers saw the Dingle clan being warned they could carry a faulty cancer-causing gene - and are advised to be tested as soon as possible. Yet Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley was first told she might carry the very same gene in real life, after she lost her beloved mum Cath to breast cancer, 12 years ago. But unlike the soap characters, Lisa has remained adamant she will never be tested. And even as she’s raising awareness of the BRCA 1 and 2 genes on the soap, she remains defiant.
“It’s my life and I don’t want to have that test done,” Lisa explains candidly. “We’ve had years of conversation about it at Emmerdale, long before this storyline, and people have said to me: ‘But Lisa, with your history and your gene pool, why would you not do it?’ “I reply: ‘Because I don’t need to do it.’ I just want to be me and live my life from day to day. I could get run over by a truck tomorrow.”
Lisa lost her beloved mum Cath to breast cancer in 2012 (Internet Unknown)
The actress is adamant that she won't have the tests (ITV)Lisa, 47, lost her mum Cath to breast cancer aged 58, in 2012. Two great-grandmothers having also had breast cancer, and she lost three grandparents to other cancers. “Awareness is very important and I do have an elected mammogram every year for my peace of mind, but not having the test is my choice,” she says. “I don’t want to be that person that lives with that for the rest of my life. I know people will judge me on that, but you’ve got to walk a day in my shoes.
“It’s my business, in that [people] don’t know what it’s like to be me and live with the gene pool that I live with, that I wake up with and go to sleep with every single day and night.
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“I love the fact that we are portraying this on telly as many people still might not be aware of the faulty gene. It’s wonderful to know that we will be teaching the audience about it, but personally, I don’t want to know.”
In last Wednesday's episode Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) told the Dingles she’d been tested and had inherited the faulty BRCA2 gene which has caused her breast cancer. She immediately told her family to also get tested.
Famously highlighted by Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, BRCA1 and BRCA2 are faulty genes that significantly raise the risk of a woman developing breast and ovarian cancer and a man developing male breast cancer and prostate or pancreatic cancer. Most women in the UK have a 15% chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime, that rises to 40-85% for women with the faulty BRCA2 gene and 65-85% for women with the faulty BRCA1 gene. There’s also a 50% of passing the gene to their children.
Angelina Jolie (left) raised awareness of the gene (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)But Lisa, says firmly: “I’m not a statistic. People might think: ‘Well, on paper, Lisa is going to have breast cancer by the time she’s 56.’ Possibly that might be the case, but I don’t want to be told that. I want to live my life to the fullest. The security guard at work said to me the other morning at 6.40am: ‘how on earth are you so happy at this time in the morning?’ And that’s me.”
Lisa, an ambassador for the charity Breast Cancer Now, supports onscreen cousin Chas through her cancer ordeal but it’s been hard to film. “It’s sadly a story close to my heart and it has massively affected me,” she acknowledges. “I have visions of my mum losing her hair, when clumps and clumps would be on the pillow.
“It broke me and it broke my Mum – it broke my Mum a lot more than the actual mastectomy. It’s agony to think of that moment. But I’ve lived this story all my life, therefore I have to do it justice.” Lisa and her mum Cath shared a close bond. Her mum backed her dreams of being an actor from her childhood, taking her to Oldham Theatre Workshop when she was only nine and driving her to film studios as she began to pick up acting work, until she joined the cast of Emmerdale when she was 19.
“I could do no wrong in my Mum’s eyes,” Lisa recalls with a smile. “She mollycoddled me, even when I was 29! When that protective duvet is pulled from under you, Jesus, do you hit the floor with a crash. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Family has always meant everything to Lisa. She remains close to dad Terry and brother
Liam and regularly posts proud messages on social media about her nephews and nieces Jake, Josh and Everlyn. Yet the grief over her mum’s death can still overwhelm her. “I do sometimes use that bravado,” she explains. “There are days where I’d rather not have to face the world.”
Lisa says its unlikely that she and Al, her fiancé will ever marry (Lisa Riley)Lisa, who grew up in Bury, now lives in Yorkshire with her musician fiancé Al. The couple got together in 2014 and became engaged six years ago, but Lisa says it’s now unlikely that they will ever tie the knot. “It’s not important anymore,” she explains. “Also, I’m not very good at being leashed. I want to feel I can run off and be me whenever I want. I was on set with Dominic Blunt (Paddy Dingle) the other day and he said: ‘In my head I keep writing my speech of what I want to say at your wedding.’ I said: ‘tell me.’
He said: ‘no, I’m saving it until you get married, even though you probably won’t.’ And I said: ‘well, therefore you need to tell me now.’ Me and Al are happy as we are on every single level and marriage wouldn’t make any difference to that.” Lisa initially spent six years at Emmerdale. During her 18 years away, she reached the semi-finals of Strictly Come Dancing, appeared in the BAFTA award-winning drama Three Girls, replaced Jeremy Beadle as the presenter of You’ve Been Framed! and was a panellist on Loose Women. She re-joined Emmerdale in 2019.
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“When I got Emmerdale at 19 it was like winning the lottery,” she reflects. “It was the part from heaven, it’s still the part from heaven.”
Emmerdale is on ITV and STV weekdays at 7.30pm
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.
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