Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley, 49, was reduced to tears upon learning she was to be made an MBE for services to drama and charity, thinking of her late mother Cath, who died from breast cancer in 2012. Cath enrolled Lisa in ballet lessons at age four and championed her acting career.
Emotional Reaction to MBE News
Lisa received the news in February after returning from a city break with her fiancé Al Benković. She said, “We got back and there was loads of mail, including a very posh envelope which said ‘From The King.’ I thought someone was pranking me. I opened it up and I burst out crying to the point of no return. Never in a million years did I think this would happen to me.”
She added, “There’s endless sadness and tears that my mum isn’t here to see this. She’d have been so thrilled and so proud. More than you can imagine. She always said, ‘My little girl, she did it!’ And I have. You don’t get bigger than this.”
Royal Recognition and Charity Work
The MBE, announced in the King’s Birthday Honours, also recognizes Lisa’s charity work for Breast Cancer Now, Maggie’s Yorkshire, Sue Ryder, and Sane. She will receive her honor later this year at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle from King Charles or Prince William. Lisa admitted, “Secretly, I really want William!”
She also received a handwritten card from Queen Camilla. Lisa said, “She said, ‘Congratulations for everything you’ve done for television and charity.’ I couldn’t believe it. A letter from the Queen! I’m a massive royalist, as was my mum.”
Career Highlights
Lisa joined Emmerdale in 1995 at age 19 for a short stint but became a regular cast member the following year. She won the National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer. In 1998, she hosted You’ve Been Framed!, boosting audience figures to over 13 million. She left the soap in 2001, appearing in dramas like Fat Friends and the Bafta-winning BBC series Three Girls, and competed on Strictly before returning to Emmerdale in 2019.
Reflecting on her career, she said, “I feel like the elder stateswoman these days. I really genuinely look out for the young ones. They come to me for advice, because I have walked the walk and talked the talk.”
Recent Projects and Personal Life
After appearing on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! last year, Lisa became a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women. She said, “I’m loving being back with the girls on Loose Women. It’s absolutely superb – one thing I can say I’m good at is talking.”
Lisa, who quit drinking 11 years ago, is looking forward to her 50th birthday and a holiday with Al. The couple have been together 12 years but have no plans to marry. She explained, “We’re husband and wife in every way, shape and form and I don’t understand how being married would be any different.”
Emmerdale Future
Lisa revealed upcoming storylines linking her character Mandy Dingle to bad boy Kevin Townsend. She said, “She’s a smother mother with her son Vinny and she thinks Kev might not be the person he says he is. She’s elated that Vinny and Lewis are together. That’s every Christmas present 50 times over. But she sees a few hurdles in the road as far as Kev is concerned – she can spot a rogue at 50 metres.”
She hopes to stay with Emmerdale long-term, saying, “I’m fully signed. I can see myself in the show in my seventies if they’ll have me. But I never feel I’m safe. It just takes one storyline for things to switch, or a new producer to come in and go, ‘We don’t like the Dingles. Bye, bye.’”
