My Emmerdale storyline has definitely been a challenge

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all well and enjoying the milder weather we’ve been having!! I for one have absolutely loved it and am now so desperate for the summer to arrive after such a long winter. This year has seemed particularly dark as I’ve been filming the very complex Emmerdale storyline I’ve hinted about in my past posts, which by now some of you may be aware centres around the sexual assault of my character Alicia by 14-year-old Lachlan White (played by Thomas Atkinson). Previously I’ve been unable to speak about the topic and the complexities of the story due to it’s very sensitive nature however now that the episodes have been aired I can discuss in more detail how challenging it both has been and still is. I’ve said in numerous interviews recently how shocked I was when our producer Kate first told me about the storyline, as I thought it was such a sensitive issue to cover and with Emmerdale being aired pre-watershed I was aware that there may be some difficulty with certain scenes, however I completely trusted the team at Emmerdale and felt that it was incredibly brave of them to cover it, as I’m aware that socially something seems to be bubbling with regards to the impact of the internet on young people. I was also incredibly flattered that they felt our family could handle such a powerful story and was determined to rise to the challenge of telling it in the most truthful way we could. Kate first discussed the story with me last summer and so I had plenty of time to do as much research as I could before we began filming the bulk of it this winter.

What I found was disturbing to say the least, which made me even more passionate about our part in highlighting such a worrying issue. Whilst trying to find real life accounts of sexual assaults committed by minors, of which I found at least four between the months of October and December 2014 in
this country, not to mention the countless others I read about in America, Australia and Europe, I was then horrified to find a huge amount of websites/videos that seemed to glorify such horrendous behaviour and almost imply it was ‘funny’ and ‘cool’. The ease with which these sites were stumbled upon really alarmed me, especially as I have a two-and-a-half-year-old son who quite frequently uses our iPad as we’ve installed certain apps that are aimed at his age group. Granted Freddie won’t be typing things into Google yet but there are many children who are tech savvy who may be innocently looking for something else and before you know it are being subjected to pornographic imagery. I find it incredibly worrying that sexual content seems to have become so mainstream that Fifty Shades of Grey, a film primarily about S&M is being used to market laundry powder.
Children are not stupid, all it takes is for a nine-year-old to wonder what all the fuss is about and why it’s all over Twitter and Facebook to become curious themselves and Google it. As you can imagine the content that is then displayed on search engines centres mainly around S&M, which I personally do not feel is appropriate imagery for a young child to view. I’m not saying that there isn’t a place for sexual content, as grown adults we should all have the choice to read and watch what we want, when we want, the problem I have is that such content shouldn’t be readily available to be viewed by children. Years ago you would have to walk into a shop and ask for whatever was on the top shelf before you were able to view such material, you would also most likely be asked for ID if the newsagent didn’t believe you were over 18. The middle person has disappeared with the internet and that’s what I find disturbing, as parents we of course do our best to put parental controls and privacy settings on our computers and tablets but the majority of our children are cleverer than us when it comes to advancing technology and so for me personally I would like to see the big internet companies stepping up and protecting our children by making such content much harder to access.

In the storyline between Alicia and Lachlan, Emmerdale highlighted quite early on that Lachlan had been paying for online porn and in the episodes that air this week we see Lachlan use a scenario he’s seen on an online kissing tutorial, yes they do exist, to describe an intimate moment with Alicia, who he has implied, groomed him. I think Emmerdale have been so brave in choosing to explore this current issue alongside the other sensitive issues you get with a sexual assault storyline e.g. who’s to blame, what was the victim wearing, were they drunk, the effect it has on relationships and with our story Emmerdale are also looking at the impact the assault has on the perpetrator’s parents, in our case Lachlan’s mum Chrissie, played by Louise Marwood, which I find incredibly interesting.
Although the story has definitely been a challenge,  it’s one as an actor I’ve relished. To have the opportunity of telling such a complex layered story is a real privilege and one I’m extremely proud of. I feel incredibly lucky to work with such an amazing group of people at Emmerdale, writers, directors, costume, make-up and the technical crew, our wonderful cast and in particular my on screen family, Matthew Wolfenden, Joe-Warren Plant and Roxy Shahidi. We have all worked extremely hard on this storyline and yes we’ve had some negative comments however I feel that the fact people are talking about this very relevant issue is a good thing as by raising debate we are bringing the subject to the fore and I for one am very proud of that. The storyline continues for some time to come and over the coming weeks the viewers can expect twists and turns and real moments of heartbreak as Alicia’s husband David is pushed to the edge and Lachlan’s mum Chrissie is forced to see her son in a different light. I really hope people continue to tune in to see how the story unfolds and that they will hopefully keeping talking about what I feel is a very unnerving situation.
Emmerdale is on weekdays at 7pm.

On a very different note I had the most gorgeous Mother’s Day weekend! Despite working early on Sat morning I had the rest of the day off and was able to spend it with Freddie and James. We decided to go and see Home, the latest film from Dreamworks animation. As with Big Hero 6 it was brilliant at entertaining both children and adults alike. Factor in a great soundtrack with numerous hits from Rihanna (who voiced the leading little girl character, Tip) and some emotive moral concepts and you have yourself a fantastic and entertaining family film. At one point I turned to see James with a tear in his eye as Tip desperately tries to find her mum with her little alien buddy Oh. Yet again Freddie sat like a little angel throughout the whole film, which was such a relief for us as recently we seem to be having another bout of the terrible twos. After the film we had a lovely dinner together with Freddie saying ‘I loved that film mummy, I’ve had such a nice day’. As you can imagine my heart melted a little bit, I’ve never known such unconditional love since becoming a parent, your child can seem possessed, pushing you to the end of your tether to the point where you’re pulling your hair out yet the minute they are polite and well behaved you feel all warm and fuzzy and like you couldn’t loved them any more if you tried.
That’s exactly how I felt on Mother’s Day itself. Freddie woke me with a huge ‘Happy Mummy’s Day’ hug and breakfast in bed (courtesy of James of course), it was wonderful. I had a huge lump in my throat, particularly when I saw the home made vase and card he’d made me for me at nursery. James also spoilt me by booking a spa visit for next month, which I can’t wait for! It was such a lovely morning.

We then visited James’ mum and grandma before returning home where I made a lovely dinner for my mum. This was quite a feat for me as I don’t cook at all, I’m not terrible but I’m not very confident and the kitchen in our house is very much James’ domain. I always say he should enter Masterchef! Anyway as it was Mother’s Day I wanted to cook for my mum and I have to say I was quite impressed with myself. I made a hearty beef stew and dumplings followed by fruit crumble and custard and bar the custard I made everything from scratch! Nothing was burnt and everything was cooked on time, not bad for me. Mum loved it and James polished off the rest of the crumble and so I can happily say it was quite a success. It was such a lovely, relaxing family day, I enjoyed every minute of it!
I’ve got a little trip to London to see the lovely lot at Good Morning Britain at the end of the week in and amongst filming and other bits and bobs and so I’ll say goodbye for now and I’ll fill you in next time.
Lots of love,
Natalie
Xx

P.S. Paris was amazing and I did get up the Eiffel Tower albeit only to the 2nd floor!! I freaked out a little bit in the elevator and so settled for dinner in the restaurant as opposed to Champagne at the top. I have a list of fears as long as my arm, flying, spiders, confined spaces, being buried alive, drowning, I honestly drive myself mad! However it was still an amazing and romantic trip. I love Paris so much, I’m already trying to plan when we can next go back. It definitely has a special place in my heart.
Au revoir!