Emma Atkins has confessed she was "worried" when she received the scripts for her upcoming scenes where her character Charity Dingle attends a support group. This follows the current storyline where she is dealing with the aftermath of being sexually assaulted at Jacobs Fold by Dr. Caitlin Todd, played by Caroline Harker.
Initial Concerns About the Script
"When I first received the script I was a bit worried about how I would play the scenes, and then I just kept reading them over and over again and thought actually, these are brilliantly written," she said, speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk and other media over Zoom. "I felt the emotion. I felt everything as I was saying it."
Charity Opens Up in Support Group
In the scenes to be aired this week, Charity opens up about what makes her experience different from everyone else's in the group and explains further about her feelings of self-blame. The facilitator tries to make her see that she's carrying feelings of guilt and shame that should belong to the perpetrator.
Emma recalled: "There was a small group of us, and the facilitator played by Gloria Adereti was just absolutely brilliant. She just brought something very unique to it, a very gentle, truthful approach, which I think helped Charity to open up when initially she wasn't prepared to. I think that's why she goes back the second time."
Struggling to Define the Assault
"The first initial meeting, she really struggled to know what to say because her situation felt so different from a male/female rape situation. She didn't know what to call it. Even the police [said] it's not recognised as rape - it's just assault with penetration. So I think Charity just felt so lost in it all, and lonely, and she kept so much to herself that I think this second meeting, that's when she finally decides she feels braver," she said.
She continued: "It's only when she finally admits that it was a woman, that she starts to sort things out. Once she starts [talking], she can't stop. It's like taking the top off a bottle, and she just finds confidence within due to the facilitator having such a gorgeous way about her as well. It's all about trusting, isn't it? At first, she was very shy about the idea of discussing it outside of home. Her confidence has just begun to sort of gently flourish again after having had it absolutely wiped away and diminished completely with the fact that [she thought] well, who would believe her anyway?"
A Natural Progression for Charity
While the storyline and upcoming scenes involve distressing content, as an actor Emma enjoyed working on them. "I loved doing it. I think it's a lovely natural progression for my character's journey, to finally go and speak and say it out loud because she just kept it bottled up for so long. I think a lot of people have been able to relate to it, seeing that - regardless of the gender - it's a very fragile and sensitive topic. So I felt I had to really commit to this to do it justice," she reflected.
Emmerdale airs on ITV and ITVX Monday-Friday at 7.30pm.
