Emmerdale newcomer Casey Al-Shaqsy, who plays Serena Sugden, has revealed that filming a scene for the soap left her feeling so starstruck she 'almost threw up'. The 30-year-old actress joined the ITV soap in June as the mysterious Serena Sugden, a distant relative of Robert and Sarah. Since then, her character has been exposed as a former police officer with many secrets.
Overwhelmed by iconic family
Although she loves working on the soap and with her co-stars, she admits to feeling overwhelmed at times. One particular day left her 'feeling sick' and 'overwhelmed'. One of her first big scenes was baby Leyla Sugden’s christening. The tot is thought to be the daughter of Sarah Sugden and her husband, Jacob, but is actually the biological child of Ross Barton and Charity Dingle – a secret that Serena knows about.
Talking about filming Leyla’s christening scenes alongside a huge selection of iconic characters, she said: “I’d been there for two weeks and I’d had lovely interactions with everyone. Then I got to that christening, and it was all the Dingles in one corner, then it was me, Matty, Sarah and Jacob and then Charity and Mackenzie. I literally stood there and I went, ‘can I sit down?’ I had to leave the room and I couldn’t sit with everybody because I just felt so overwhelmed.”
Starstruck by Cain and Charity
Casey says she was left 'feeling sick' after being in the room with 'such an iconic family' that she 'grew up watching': "I used to sit on my living room floor with my mum because she used to watch it religiously." She says it still feels surreal to be on the show, playing a member of the Sugden family: "I've been [on the show] for like four months and it still hasn't sunk in. It's been epic and I feel incredibly privileged [but] I just feel like slightly overwhelmed at times that I'm part of it. I'll be watching old episodes and going, god that's Serena's uncle! It's really cool."
One character in particular left her more excited than others: “I think I actually got starstruck by Cain, [and] I don’t get starstruck. I saw him and I was quiet for once and walked past him and said ‘hello I’m Casey, can’t wait to work with you’. I was a bit awkward because I was like, that’s Cain!”
Cain and Charity are two iconic characters she grew up watching, and she says it felt 'weird' that her first ever scene was with Charity (Emma Atkins): "I was like, you're Charity!" Casey also admitted she used to have a crush on Jeff Hordley, who plays Cain, back in the day when he sported long hair: "I used to fancy him!" When asked if he knows about her crush, she laughed: "He will do now!"
