Bouncing her baby niece Everlyn on her knee, Lisa Riley is glowing with happiness. She looks every inch the proud aunt and her love for children is obvious.
The touching scene comes despite the actress and her musician fiance, Al, having their own baby dreams shattered last year when they were told IVF was unlikely to work.
But Lisa, 43, hasn’t given up hope of getting pregnant naturally.
And in the meantime her brother Liam and his wife Nat are determined Auntie Lisa will always have a special role in the lives of their children – Everlyn and her brothers, Jake and Josh.
It is that family bond which sealed the star’s decision to return north from London to reprise the role that made her famous – Emmerdale’s Mandy Dingle.
Lisa, who tonight made her long-awaited return to the soap she left 17 years ago, says: “It is amazing for me to be so close to Jake, Josh and Everlyn.
“They are my world. There hasn’t been a girl in the family since I was born and to see my brother with his daughter is amazing. I am so lucky they let me be so involved. I am the pushy aunt.
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“Theirs is the family I wanted – but I can’t have. It is just not meant to be.
“But since being back at Emmerdale I have heard so many positive stories about people who tried IVF and it didn’t work, but then fell pregnant naturally.
“I wouldn’t go down the IVF route now but I will let nature take its course and, if I did fall pregnant, I would be thrilled.
“But I am not going to dwell on it. No one is going to give me bad news again.”
Her neice is named Everlyn Catherine in memory of Lisa’s beloved mum Cath, who died from cancer in 2012.
It was losing Cath that put Lisa at the biggest crossroads in her life – she was either going to sink or swim.
Reeling with grief, Lisa hit the booze hard and felt her life was spiralling out of control.
Everything in her hometown of Bury reminded her of her mum, so she fled to London in a bid to quit drinking, grieve in peace and rebuild her life.
(Image: ITV)
Following a hugely successful stint on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 – just months after her mum’s death – Lisa found a new inner strength.
Through sheer willpower, and with Al’s support, she quit the booze for good, shed 12 stone in weight and had major surgery to remove the loose, saggy skin left by her staggering weight loss.
Now a trim size 12/14 and having just celebrated four years sober, she has never been happier.
“When my mum died, red wine was a superb comfort blanket,” Lisa explains.
“It takes the pain away, it closes everything off, and you can sleep a little bit at night. It was escapism.
“I don’t think I will ever pick up a drink again. On bank holiday my family came over for a picnic and the lads had a beer.
“In the old days I would have joined them, of course, but now the thought doesn’t even enter my head.
“Now I always feel fresh and I can’t wait for that email at 9pm on a Saturday when my new Emmerdale scripts arrive.
“In the old days I wouldn’t even be in at 9pm on a Saturday.
“I probably would be out until 3am Sunday, then rough all day eating a loaf of Warburtons smothered in Lurpak to ease the hangover. That doesn’t happen any more. I am up early, ready to go for a walk, ready to work.”
She adds: “How on earth did I used to go out every night after work, drink two bottles of red wine until 11pm, then be back on set at 7am the next day and still know my lines? I have no idea.”
Al is tasked with helping Lisa learn her lines as Mandy, which is no mean feat seeing as he isn’t from the UK and had no idea who the character was.
And he has big shoes to fill, because in her first stint in Emmerdale it was Lisa’s mum who stepped in to help her prepare for big scenes in the Woolpack.
She laughs: “I always had my mum to learn my lines with and she would’ve been an amazing actress. Al does his best to help me, but bless him I think he needs to go to RADA for a week. He is crazy proud though.” Lisa’s eyes light up every time she mentions the musician who has been by her side for five years.
And while she can’t wait to marry the man of her dreams, she admits their wedding day will once again bring home just how much she misses her mum.
She says: “Every little girl dreams about their dad walking them down the aisle on their wedding day and so do I.
“But I also have that empty front pew syndrome – I couldn’t have the big white wedding and see the empty space on the front row where my mum would be.
“I was bridesmaid for my friend Nicola two years ago and I remember looking seeing her mum sat so proudly on the front row. I started to cry and everyone thought it was the emotion of seeing my best friend get married.
“But it was because I knew whatever else happened in my life my mum would never, ever get to see me be a bride.
“So when me and Al do get married we will go off and do it quietly and then have a big party for all our friends and family.
“We already call each other husband and wife anyway. We don’t need a big, white wedding.”
As well as spending time with her brother’s kids, returning north means she can see more of her dad, Terry.
Fighting back tears she says: “My dad does need me more now.
“He isn’t getting any younger and I did feel a little bit guilty about leaving him when I went to London. But I had to leave because I wasn’t coping with my grief very well.
“Family is his be-all and end-all. He has been amazing with my brother and the grandchildren.”
And she has no doubts it was the right decision to return full-time as Mandy following a Christmas cameo that went down a storm with fans.
“I was determined that it would be a one-off,” she says.
“But then when I saw the reaction that Mandy’s return generated I was genuinely lost for words. I really felt it was the right time for me.”
It is 25 years next year since leopard-print loving Mandy burst into the Dales, all feisty one liners and sharp put-downs.
And while Lisa and her character have both grown up since they left Emmerdale, Lisa says Mandy still has the rebellious streak that made fans love her.
“Every time we get out scripts it is like ‘Wow, Mandy is naughty’,” she laughs.
“There are scams, she can’t be trusted, she drops lies all over the place but never, ever trips herself up.
“I do live out my naughtiness now through her. I was wild when I was here last time. Now I am proud to be boring. I am really happy in my own little world.
“Being back on Emmerdale keeps me young but I am now being the mother to the younger cast members.
“Everything Steve Halliwell, who plays my Uncle Zak, used to have a go at me for – spending money, going out – I am now saying to the younger ones.”
