Emmerdale star Isabel Hodgins has opened up on welcoming her first child and shared an update about her return to the soap. The actor has been playing Victoria Sugden on the ITV series for two decades, and left the Dales in recent scenes for a short break.
Appearing on the parenting podcast You Don't Know You're Born alongside Emmerdale co-star Danny Miller and his co-host Wingman aka Nigel Clucas, Hodgins looked back on the conversation she had with Emmerdale producers when she realised she was pregnant.
She made sure not to "ruin" any big storyline when she informed producers she would need some time off.
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"It was very much at my discretion how much I wanted off," she said.
"It was mid-December," she recalled, explaining she thought she'd work until the new year. However, producers informed her that she'd be done with her scenes before Christmas.
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"But in hindsight they did me a favour," she added. "The drive, Manchester to Leeds, it was killing me a bit."
Quizzed about how she and husband Adam Whitehead, who works as a teacher, would deal with parenting duties once they both return to work in the autumn, Hodgins said: "I will need to find a way to manage that."
"For 20 years, work has been my priority," she said, adding that being a parent "[has] completely flipped my way of thinking".
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"To be honest, I still don't know when I'm going back," she added about her Emmerdale return.
"In my ideal world, it would be September," she continued. "And then it's all systems go. [That's when] it really starts with the juggling and potential mum guilt, and whatever."
Hodgins' character Victoria left the Dales in scenes aired in February this year after killing villain John Sugden in self-defence and being subsequently blackmailed by Joe Tate. She and Henry left for Portugal for a fresh start, though she promised her brother Robert she'd be back.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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