Column
It’s a funny old world
THIS WEEK’S COLUMNIST Emmerdale actor Laura Norton
I’ve just returned to Emmerdale after a year and a half away on maternity leave. It’s been amazing – chaotic, tiring and turbulent, but beautiful and lovely. I did have mixed feelings about coming back. I didn’t know if I could still walk and talk at the same time, let alone remember lines and act!
But while I miss my children an incredible amount, I was excited to be around people that I love and to be an actor again – and to have a piece of me, which I haven’t had for a long time, because I’ve been a slave to two children, basically!
Me and my partner Mark [former Emmerdale actor Mark Jordon] have Ronnie, 18 months, and Jesse, three. I had the same amount of time off with Jesse as I did Ronnie, so even though I came back for a year in between, I feel like I’ve had three years off.
Luckily, Emmerdale broke me in gently and started me off with one day a week. While I’ve been off, my character, Kerry Wyatt, has been on a cruise ship living her best life, impersonating Cher. So, she’s returned full of beans and with her Cher costume – hot pants and a leotard. It’s a skimpy outfit for someone just back from maternity leave, but Kerry wouldn’t be self-conscious and that’s what I have to remember. I don’t know what’s coming up in the scripts, but I’m fully prepared, in case they have her up on the karaoke.
One of the biggest changes about being back to work is that I can go to the toilet on my own. When I’m at home, the children both insist on coming with me and holding my hand! I have a few photos of them on my phone to look at between scenes – well, about 5,000. I’ve already been told off by some of my castmates for showing them too many. I’ll be going through my camera going, ‘Look at this one,’ and, ‘This is them dressed up…’
Times have changed. I asked my mum to bring over some pictures of me as a child and she brought one envelope. When I asked Mark’s uncle for so
