Emmerdale star Michelle Hardwick has revealed how the cancer storyline for Vanessa Woodfield had been planned for a while.
Last month, Vanessa was revealed to have bowel cancer. As part of the new storyline, she will be seen trying to come to terms with her symptoms and preparing for extensive treatment.
Speaking to What's on TV, Michelle said that she had known for a while what the show bosses were considering for her character.
"When Jane Hudson first came to Emmerdale as executive producer, we had meetings and she called me up and said, 'I want to give Vanessa cancer. I don't know what type yet. It's something to be discussed at conference,'" Michelle recalled.
"So I always knew that this was on the cards at some point, but I didn't know what sort of cancer it would be.
"Straight away, you go, 'Oh, it would be breast cancer or ovarian cancer'. Terrible still, but the obvious ones. That was about 18 months ago, two years ago.
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"Then I had a meeting with her about six months ago, and that's when she said, 'It's going to be bowel cancer'. It took me by surprise, and I thought, 'Oh wow!', but it's for all the good reasons."
Recent episodes have seen Vanessa sharing her diagnosis with children Noah Dingle and Sarah Sugden.
Next week, Vanessa will prepare for surgery and reveals to her sister Tracy Metcalfe that she has already prepared a will.
The ITV soap has been working with charity Bowel Cancer UK on the storyline.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
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