Emmerdale: Sally Dexter discusses return as Faith Dingle
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Sally’s alter-ego Faith has become one of the most beloved characters on Emmerdale in recent times, with the loveable rogue’s disastrous relationships with her children providing both light and darkness to the matriarch. Due to the strained nature of her relationships with Cain Dingle (played by Jeff Hordley) and Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), the mother of two has so far failed to tell them she is living with secondary breast cancer which has now spread to other parts of her body. The doctors recently told Faith she would never recover but they could provide treatment to prolong her life, suggesting an exit is on the horizon for the ITV soap favourite.
However, it seems there is a reason Sally would currently refuse to leave as she believes the storyline needs to conclude properly.
Speaking with Express.co.uk and other media, the actress explained Faith needs to mend her relationships with her children before she can make her departure.
Sally said: “It would be dreadful if it didn’t [get resolved between her and her children]. We’d be left on a minor chord.
“The end of the song wouldn’t be finished. It would be terrible and I couldn’t bear that. In fact, I would refuse to leave until it was resolved.
“That could be a way of staying on,” she added, hinting her character could be sticking around for a long while yet.
At the moment, the only person who knows about Faith’s diagnosis is her daughter-in-law Moira Barton (Natalie J Robb).
The farmer has been attending Faith’s appointments with her and has promised to keep her illness a secret for now, whilst also encouraging her to be truthful with her children.
To keep everything hidden from Cain and Chas, Faith has even moved in with Moira but it seems she won’t be able to keep up the pretence for too long.
However, despite the challenges of the storyline and her character’s stubbornness over the matter, it seems Sally is determined to give a performance of a lifetime.
Sally added: “It’s 100 percent vital we do it justice. There are many people sitting out there watching the show who have it.”
I would refuse
Sally Dexter
“[There are so many people] sitting next to somebody who has it, who are about to have it and they need to know first and foremost that you can get better,” she explained.
“There are fabulous treatments and there are fabulous charities that work with people who are going through this and many, many people do come through it.
“We want to tell the story as truthfully and as honestly and as carefully, with all the humour and humanity that goes along with a situation like this.
“It’s not all doom and gloom. We’re humans, we laugh at all sorts of peculiar things. And the other thing is when you’re dealing with an illness like this, a condition like this, you don’t suddenly become somebody else.
“You don’t suddenly become a saint or anything like that. You’re still you and I think that’s a big thing that we want to reinforce that with or without cancer, you’re still you,” Sally opined.
Addressing the conclusion to the storyline once more, she added: “It’s human and humanity and Faith is just bursting with all of that.
“That’s not going to change until whatever the conclusion is, she will always have that humour,” Sally continued to explain.
This is a huge hint at the moment there is no plan to write the character out of the show as she could continue getting treatment for months to come.
Though, producer Laura Shaw did tease her death whilst talking about the year ahead for the Dingles at the start of 2022.
Speaking with Express.co.uk and other media, she said: “There is lots going on for the Dingles as we head into 2022.”
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“Two of our most loved Dingles are going to be facing huge life-changing situations that are going to have repercussions for the whole village,” she added, seemingly referring to Faith and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) who recently suffered a stroke.
“The effects of this are going to be long-lasting over the course of 2022 and into 2023.
“In the next few months, we’ll see drama, joy, fun, laughter, agony, pain, grief and despair hit this family. They will be pulled into a lot of directions and be at the heart of our very biggest stories this year.”
It could be Faith’s exit will come at the dawn of a New Year after finally deciding she is going to stop her treatment.
And it won’t just be Faith, Cain and Chas who have to deal with the after effects of the diagnosis as Moira will also have a lot to contend with.
Laura added: “I don’t think Moira fans need to worry at all, as we’ve got plenty coming up for her this year. She’s going to be the person to lean on for more than one of her family members.
“We’re going to see her be given one of the biggest decisions of her life when she’s asked to keep a huge secret and she’s going to struggle massively with that.”
As she continues to feel challenged over keeping Faith’s diagnosis a secret, she could be the catalyst behind bringing the family back together.
Will she do it in time or will Faith already be on her death bed by this point?
Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode airing on Thursdays.
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