Eccentric Emmerdale character Lydia Hart is acting even stranger than usual next week – but fortunately Karen Blick is on hand to shed some light on her character's latest antics.

Upcoming episodes of the ITV soap see Lydia harping on about her new employee Una, who's supposedly helping with her cleaning duties.

The only problem is that "Una" doesn't actually exist, which leaves Lydia in a bit of a pickle when Rishi Sharma asks to meet her. How can she get out of this one? And what's the reason behind her lies?


Sam Dingle has good news for Lydia Hart in Emmerdale
© ITV

Speaking about the upcoming story, Karen explained: "Lydia has created a fictional employee in Una because she's struggling to commit to all of the hours that she's agreed to with her cleaning shifts.

"She's got a number of jobs cleaning the factory, The Woolpack and Home Farm. She's also in a bit of financial difficulty, which we're unaware of at the moment.

"In order to compensate for that, she's created this fictional employee Una. She's given her a bit of a background and backstory that she's an Irish lady! She's basically dug herself a hole that she's going to find really difficult to get out of.

"Because of employment laws and working hours, Lydia wouldn't be able to work the hours she currently has been doing without "Una". That's why she's been a bit tired and scatty around the village.

"Lydia is not comfortable with lying at all, but I think she's doing it for the greater good, rather than to deceive anybody. She thinks it's a little white lie that's got out of control."


Kerry Wyatt gets suspicious in Emmerdale
© ITV

There's another unexpected outcome of Lydia's deceit when Kerry Wyatt spots her acting strangely around Rishi and jumps to the wrong conclusion that the pair are secretly sleeping together.

Could this ruin things between Lydia and Sam Dingle if Kerry's theory starts to spread?

Karen added: "Lydia is a very principled woman and she cares about Sam, so she wouldn't do anything to jeopardise that relationship or hurt or upset him. She likes to be an upstanding, honest member of society."


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