08 January 2024 , 00:01
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Emmerdale will air a shocking breast cancer storyline in the coming weeks as Chas Dingle discovers a lump in her breast.
The icon of the Dales - played by Lucy Pargeter - will find a lump during an intimate moment with her lover Dr Liam Cavanagh. The discovery will lead Chas to worry and stress after the loss of her own mother Faith Dingle.
In the middle of her fun fling with Dr Liam, he tells her he has felt a lump in her breast. With the mood ruined, Chas is left alone and is immediately struck with fear. He does his best to try and reassure her that it could just be a cyst or something benign.
Liam finds the lump when the pair are getting intimate (ITV)However, given her mum's diagnosis, she makes an appointment to see her GP. As she heads to the breast clinic for diagnostic tests, she is told she has triple negative breast cancer. Shocked by the news, she doesn't tell anyone and is desperately keen to stay healthy for the sake of her younger daughter, in a heartbreaking mirror of the Faith storyline.
Producer Kate Brooks said: "When this story was first pitched, we were acutely aware how important it was to explore this. With Chas’s family history of breast cancer and Chas being such a strong character, and in many ways the bedrock of the Dingles, we wanted to show the impact on not just her, but her immediate family. With Lucy Pargeter’s innate ability to showcase Chas’s vulnerabilities beneath her hardened exterior, we knew she was absolutely the right character to play this with."
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Lucy, who plays Chas, added: "When the producers first discussed this storyline with me I knew I didn’t want us to shy away from any aspect of this diagnosis for Chas. She saw her own mother ultimately die after an incurable breast cancer diagnosis, so for Chas to receive a breast cancer diagnosis herself, makes it all the more poignant.
"Our audience knows her so well, they have seen her relationships, know her faults, her passions, her insecurities, quirks and fears. So for them to see this story play out will be more meaningful given everything that has happened to both her and her mother. I think this is the beauty of our genre ‘Soap’. However, I am more than aware of the huge responsibility with us telling this story. I hope we can do it justice. It won’t be all doom and gloom, there will be ups and downs just like with anything. But I hope it looks and feels real. And if just a few people get help for breast changes that do not feel or look right, it could do some good too.”
Emmerdale are working with Breast Cancer Now’s clinical nurse specialists for the story.
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