After arriving in the Dales earlier this year, it’s been a tumultuous time for newbie Ella Forster . While initially introduced as a compassionate GP receptionist, she quickly became involved in one of the soap’s darkest plots yet when Ella revealed that she had brutally murdered her 11 year old best friend Joanne as a child. For star Paula Lane - who took on the role of Ella after forging a soap career on Coronation Street as Kylie Platt - it was a meaty storyline to get stuck into.
“Yeah, most people didn't see that one coming,” she says. “I've had a few messages actually, like via social media. All very positive on the acting front.
” However, it didn’t come without worry for Paula, who shares children Arthur and Penny with partner Tom Shaw. “I have to admit, when I was picking my kids up from school, I asked ‘Was anything said today? Has anybody mentioned anything about Mummy?’ You do feel a bit ‘Oh, God, this is challenging stuff, because you're working around children.” She adds: “I'm a mother.
If somebody did that to my child, I would find it enormously difficult to forgive. That's what's brilliant about this storyline is that it kind of does get you questioning it quite a lot.” Joanne’s killing took place on the day of Ella’s 11th birthday, and this week on Emmerdale , she celebrates her 30th - which doesn’t end well.
With Ella attacking Wendy after bumping into a figure from her past, Paula teases the “amazing” episode to come. �.