Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has revealed how Lydia Dingle\u2019s (Karen Blick) harrowing rape ordeal leads the show to revisit another dark story from its archives.<\/span><\/p>\n Next week, beloved villager Lydia will be attacked by Craig Reed (Ben Addis)<\/a>. As Lydia\u2019s trauma is explored, we can expect references to late Dingle matriarch Lisa (Jane Cox), who was raped by work colleague Derek Benrose (Stephen Bent) back in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other media, Shaw tells us: \u201cThe story that we played with Lisa\u2019s going to impact everything here that happens with the Dingles. <\/span>We know from that story that Lisa never really got the justice that she deserved,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd while Derek did go to prison, it wasn\u2019t actually for the attack on Lisa.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo this is going to inform how the Dingles react, let\u2019s face it. Sam in particular, he\u2019s got that first hand knowledge of how the criminal process works, and so how difficult a conviction can be. That\u2019s going to affect everything that he does going forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Reflecting on different experiences, Emmerdale<\/a> will also recall <\/span>Rhona Goskirk\u2019s (Zo\u00eb Henry) ordeal. When Pierce Harris (Jonathan Wrather) was found guilty of raping new wife Rhona in 2017, Lisa poignantly thanked her for speaking out, as seeing justice served had helped Lisa find some closure.<\/p>\n \u201cRhona\u2019s going to be very important to Lydia,\u201d promises Shaw. \u201cShe had a very different outcome and her support, that\u2019s going to prove to be valuable to Lydia as she starts to open up to people going forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n So, why choose to take Dingle anchor Lydia down this devastating route? \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of people [behind the scenes] going \u2018Oh no, not Lydia, you can\u2019t do that to lovely Lydia.\u2019 So many people have said that to me, and I think it made me realise that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to play it with somebody like Lydia, because rape isn\u2019t something that happens to bad people,\u201d Shaw explains.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was absolutely character-led, and it came from exactly that, that Lydia is such an anchor in the Dingle family. She\u2019s solid, she works hard, she\u2019s moral, she looks after everyone.\u00a0<\/span>Since Lisa\u2019s death, I think we\u2019ve seen Lydia\u2019s kind of become the glue that holds that family together, really. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[We wanted] to explore how Lydia copes when something out of her control changes everything for her, and how this affects the rest of the family and the community when that glue isn\u2019t there anymore and can\u2019t function in the same way. So it was absolutely a story for Lydia, and not necessarily just a story we wanted to play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n The charity Rape Crisis England and Wales<\/a> has been working with Emmerdale every step of the way, and Shaw talks us through just how important their input has been. \u201cIt\u2019s been totally invaluable, they\u2019ve been involved since the very first stages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve provided us with countless case studies; they\u2019ve given such a huge amount of time to read every draft, every single scene involving Lydia and all those people around her. Just giving us that real insight, they really helped us shape the story. They\u2019ve given us the point of view of the rape survivor, her partner, friends, the community around her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd also, interestingly, some context for the behaviour of the rapist, too, which can be really difficult to navigate your way through, because it\u2019s totally alien to us. It just felt really reassuring to know that they were looking over absolutely everything, and just guiding us to make sure that everything felt authentic and real.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jayne Butler, CEO of Rape Crisis, adds: <\/span>\u201cMost of our advice was about how a survivor of rape might feel and react in certain situations after going through a traumatic event. I think the scripts, from the off, [were] already handling it really sensitively, and you could see the work that the team had done to make sure of that. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut we were mostly able to affirm the ideas that they had around how Lydia might react; and particularly taking into account that people react differently. <\/span>Everyone has a different experience to this, there isn\u2019t one way in which people behave. We were able to talk to the team about how Lydia might have options to report, [and] if that was going to be the case, what kind of options were going to be available to her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Butler also explains her hopes for Emmerdale\u2019s <\/span>portrayal of such a distressing subject: \u201cFirst and foremost, showing people who\u2019ve experienced this that they\u2019re not alone, and that it\u2019s not their fault. There\u2019s still so much stigma around rape; people are scared to talk about it, they feel shame and humiliation. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of concerns with people feeling that it\u2019s their fault, and that somehow they caused this. I think by being open about it, and talking about its impact in the way that this storyline allows us to do, it helps to break some of that stigma.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Anyone affected by Lydia\u2019s story can find support by visiting Rape Crisis<\/a>, or calling our 24\/7 Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222.<\/em><\/p>\n Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX. If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our\u00a0Soaps<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>hub.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310, PLUS a \u00a310 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Shaw also explains why this story was chosen for “Dingle glue” Lydia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":36260,"template":"","categories":[1,2,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story.jpg",1497,1002,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story-768x514.jpg",768,514,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story-1024x685.jpg",800,535,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story.jpg",1497,1002,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-producer-promises-to-revisit-dingle-history-in-hugely-important-rape-story.jpg",1497,1002,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Shaw also explains why this story was chosen for \"Dingle glue\" Lydia.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/36259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Emmerdale's](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/08\/emmerdale-lydia-a200525.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Emmerdale's")
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