EMMERDALE star Jaye Griffiths has confirmed her shock exit from the soap – just months after joining.
The actress – who plays villain Celia Daniels in the ITV soap – has frankly opened up about having to leave the soap as her character’s horrific deeds have been revealed.
Viewers now know that Celia has been running not only a county lines drugs operation, but a forced prostitution ring but also a modern day slavery racket on her farm.
Teen April Windsor has been groomed and manipulated into drug dealing and being sold for sex, while Bear Wolf has been enslaved in horrific circumstances.
And now Celia’s evil deeds are known, it has put a time limit on actress Jaye’s time in the village – something she signed up for.
Speaking to The Sun and other media, Jaye said: “I knew it was finite, which I am very sad about, because I would like to stay forever, but it’s such a strong arc.”
She added: “It’s heaven, one of the nicest places I’ve ever worked, and I’ve done a little bit of work before!
“It is gentle and kind and professional and funny, and people care that it’s good. People care that we tell the story properly. It’s a joy to come to work. I’m gushing now, aren’t I?”
And up until now the reaction from fans has been overwhelmingly positive, she added: “Everybody, they come up to me in the street and tell me much they love Celia and you think, ‘yeah, that’s not going to last’.
“That’s so not going to last and I want to remind people that it’s just pretend and I am really nice and I’m not a sociopath. It’s so not gonna last, I’m gonna get hate mail!”
But with the reveal of Celia’s evil side, there have been some challenging scenes to film for Jaye – but she hopes they will help raise awareness of the victims of modern day slavery.
“I hope so,” she said.
“Yes, that it’s not happening somewhere far, far away, it’s happening next door. That there are people whose passports have been taken, whose phones have been taken. She has a line to Joe, ‘we never take local’.
“You don’t take people who will be missed, you take the waifs and strays, and you give them purpose, you give them routine, and that lulls them, and you don’t give them any options. I mean, it’s hideous. It’s hideous.
“Sometimes, when I read the script, I think, ‘really? You’re going to make me say that?’ Just when you think she’s gone quite far enough, they’ll make me go a bit further! So yes, it’s horrendous.
“Hopefully, maybe conversations will start to be heard. Maybe every nail bar will be just…Maybe a question will run through people’s minds. Maybe every car wash, I don’t know how, as just an ordinary person, when you go into a car wash, do you say to them, ‘do you have a passport?’
“How do you navigate that? How do you as just an ordinary citizen help? I asked a police officer, and he said, ‘don’t know’.”
But despite the real world issues weighing heavily on her, Jaye has found joy in playing such an evil character.
“Yeah, I love her,” she said.
“She doesn’t have many laughs, I’m hardly swinging from the rafters but no, it’s just so wonderful to explore someone who doesn’t mind whether you like or not, because your opinion is of less than no value.
“It simply doesn’t cross her mind that you have one or that I should take any note of it. So it makes her big and to never be afraid, to never feel fear, because the worst that could happen has already happened, and she survived. So bring it on. Just bring it on!”
