Two worlds are about to collide in Emmerdale as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean – ice dancing legends and stars of Dancing On Ice – will play a part in a Christmas storyline in the village. Meanwhile Roxy Shahidi, who plays Leyla Harding, is currently preparing to appear as a Dancing On Ice contestant.
Roxy told us that she found the experience of Torvill and Dean coming to Emmerdale ‘weird.’
‘I actually didn’t realise how weird I would find it until I arrived,’ she said of the day’s filming at a Leeds ice rink for the festive scenes.
‘It wasn’t just Emmerdale that was filming here. Karen, my coach, was here and Torvill and Dean. It’s a very weird merging of worlds but it’s actually been a really fun day. It’s like a school trip when we film anything on location especially if it’s not freezing. At least we’re indoors and it’s not raining on us so it’s quite nice!’
It turns out that Leyla has a connection to the skating legends and calls in a favour to bring them to the Dales for a special marriage proposal.
‘Leyla has a lot of experience, given her line of work – she is a wedding planner,’ Roxy reminded us. ‘She has this genius idea which is the ice rink and Torvill and Dean. Apparently they owe Leyla a favour. Something went down in Mykonos, but we don’t find out what that is. They owe her a favour so that’s why they’re here.’
As Roxy prepares for her Dancing On Ice debut, she’s feeling a bit of pressure because Emmerdale stars have traditionally done well in the competition, including Joe-Warren Plant, who plays Leyla’s son Jacob Gallagher, and former winner Matthew Wolfenden, who played David Metcalfe.
‘The whole fictional family that have all danced!’ Roxy laughed. She said that the two had given her some advice.
‘Matthew just kept telling me it’s going to be really hard work and I’m like “Thanks Matthew.” He’s actually ice skating in Elf, you know. Just that it’s going to be hard work and to make sure you look after yourself and don’t push yourself too hard too soon because you will get injured.
‘Joe’s really excited. He says “You’re going to be amazing!” Don’t give me that pressure, Joe – I might be awful. There’s a good chance I’m going to be awful. But I will do my best.’
Part of giving the contest her best shot involves stepping back from her Emmerdale duties a bit, but Roxy said that Emmerdale is still her primary focus.
‘Emmerdale have been really good because I said right from the beginning my priority is Emmerdale,’ she insisted.
‘That’s my job and I can’t do three things. I can’t be a mum and learn to ice skate and become an athlete and work full time. They said to me we haven’t got a massive storyline coming up so we’ll just fit you in. So they’ve allowed me to take that step back in order to focus on Dancing On Ice.’
Currently in Emmerdale, Leyla is unaware that Jacob and Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) are a couple, and that the discovery of their relationship was what drove David to leave the village.
Roxy told us that when Leyla hears this news, her reactions are likely to be mixed.
‘I think at the end of the day she’s always loyal to him and I think it’ll take a cup of tea to forgive him. But I don’t think she’ll ever like Victoria.’
As for what’s coming up next year for her character, all that Roxy knows at the moment is that the beginning of the year will be more focused on Dancing On Ice.
‘I know that I’m in, I’m definitely in but I’m not in loads,’ she said of storylines for the early part of the year.
‘Dancing On Ice doesn’t finish until March. They’ll have storylined it but they won’t have the scripts out. I’ll need to go and have a little chat because I don’t know.’
Meanwhile she’s looking forward to a quiet Christmas before all the hard work really starts.
‘I feel like everything’s been a lot and I’m looking forward to not doing anything much. Just family, quiet, cosy, mulled wine, old films from the 80s, just that kind of thing. No big adventures,’ she said.
And when asked whether Christmas for her traditionally involves ice skating, Roxy was very clear:
‘No. Who wants to go ice skating at Christmas? It’s freezing! No!’
