There’s a harrowing storyline coming up for popular character Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) in Emmerdale, as she’s raped by her former childhood friend Craig Reed (Ben Addis).

This story has been many months in the planning, with the show taking advice and guidance from the charity Rape Crisis UK in developing the story as accurately and sensitively as possible.

Karen Blick told us that hearing about what was going to happen was quite difficult to take in.

‘My initial reaction was “Please don’t do this to Lydia!”’ she recalled. ‘ I felt very protective of her as a character and conflicted as an actor.’

A lot of fans will echo Karen’s sentiments, as Lydia is such a well-loved character who holds a special place in the centre of the Dingle family.

‘It’s an important story that needs telling,’ Karen insisted, ‘but then this terrible thing happening to somebody you are so close to and the repercussions for that character going forward.’

She told us that James Hooton, who plays Sam, had a similarly strong reaction when he was told where the Craig and Lydia story was going.

‘James was thinking Lydia’s going to have an affair,’ Karen said. ‘He was going, “Oh, I see where this is going” and he was kind of shaking his head. I thought, “You really don’t, James” but just kept my mouth shut.

‘When Jane [Hudson, executive producer] said “And Craig rapes Lydia,” the two of us – it kind of hits you,’ Karen continued. ‘It’s a shocking thing to hear. I saw the look on James’s face. Both of us had tears in our eyes. It was a really moving, strong reaction – certainly the strongest reaction I’ve ever had to a potential story emotionally. We came out of the meeting and James and I just gave each other a hug.’

The entire team was determined to do the story justice. ‘It’s a huge story and we want to do this sensitively, realistically and appropriately,’ Karen said. The first thing she did was to do some background research and was shocked by the statistic that one in four women has been raped or sexually assaulted.

Support is available from Rape Crisis UK

If anyone has been impacted by Lydia’s storyline, we want you to know that Rape Crisis is here for you.

Whether it happened recently or a long time ago, or you’re not sure what happened – we have lots of information and support on our website that might help – www.rapecrisis.org.uk.

You can also call our 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222 or chat to us online 247sexualabusesupport.org.uk.

‘I went on Rape Crisis UK’s website just to give myself the starting point for a bit of background, a bit of research to begin the process,’ she explained. ‘The statistics – the one in four particularly, the next time I was in the building, ITV, I looked around and thought “One in four women. How many women are in this building? How many women have potentially been affected and experienced this crime. And how many people have reported it? How many people have got justice? How many people have sat in a court and the perpetrator’s been found guilty? Minimal. Very few.”’

As with other hard-hitting storylines such as Marlon (Mark Charnock)’s stroke and Paddy (Dominic Brunt)’s mental health crisis, this will not be a short-term story that quickly gets forgotten. We’ll see the repercussions for Lydia and her family play out over a long time period, and follow her journey as she comes to terms with what’s happened.

Karen told us that she’s glad that we’ll be seeing Lydia’s recovery from this trauma as that’s also an important part of the story.

‘I’m looking forward to seeing where Lydia has, perhaps with Rhona (Zoe Henry) and other people in the village, where they can discuss their experiences and that opens up the discussion further as well,’ she said.

‘Emmerdale are taking their time with this and it’s not something that will just go away for Lydia. There are lasting repercussions, but also looking at the healing process for Lydia. She is a strong woman who’s been through an awful lot in her life, as many women have. How she gathers herself together after this with the help and support of whatever route that she takes.’

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