Emmerdale fans have been thoroughly impressed with Jaye Griffiths portrayal of Celia Daniels so far.

The character arrived earlier this year and was introduced to us as a local farmer. After a situation with Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), Celia began working with Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) as they plotted to destroy Kim Tate (Claire King).

 

 

As time went on, it became apparent that Celia was hiding a huge secret. We discovered in October that Celia is the mum of Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), the man who’s been forcing April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) to deal drugs.

 

 

Ray would often mention his boss to them, but absolutely no one expected Celia to be that person. Celia is in charge of the entire drug dealing operation, and we discovered a few days ago that she’s also exploiting vulnerable adults on her farm as part of a modern day slavery storyline.

 

 

It’s a deeply disturbing storyline in same places, but fans cannot help but love Jaye’s performance within each episode. It’s clear the star has thought a great deal about her character and the way she works, and has even gone as far as thinking about the reasonings behind her wardrobe items.

 

 

‘I love my scarves’, Jaye smiled in a chat with us recently.

‘I love my hat and my stick. I my stick more than anything, that she just walks around with this stick. It’s like, “could you be more literal? You walk around with a big stick”. It is glorious. I think she went through a catalogue going, “okay, what do farmers wear? Oh, great, I’ll buy that!” She doesn’t do farm work, I don’t think she’s been in a field in her life. She just swans about. It’s just great, just doing deals on her phone. So when I saw the costume, I just nearly gave Ian a kiss, our designer. It’s just perfect. Love her.

Jaye went on to reveal: ‘Celia wears a cravat because someone has tried to cut her head off. So it’s very subtle, and it’s only halfway across, because obviously they didn’t succeed in cutting her throat, and that’s why she wears the cravat. I asked our execs if they would not tell scripts, because I don’t want it ever mentioned.

‘So there’s a lovely bit where Bob looks at my neck and then his eyes flick away, and that’s the only time, that’s it. It’s just a hint of a former life, a life elsewhere that bad things have happened to her. So, that’s why she wears a cravat.’

Speaking about Ray and Laurel and what’s ahead for them, Jaye added: ‘Laurel goes to kiss him, and he won’t kiss her. That breaks Celia’s heart, because that means she’s not a floozy, she’s not a one-off. That he’s so serious about her, he won’t even kiss her.