Lucy Pargeter: No one is safe at Emmerdale

Lucy Pargeter has said that no-one's job is safe at 'Emmerdale'.

The 45-year-old actress has played former pub landlady Chas Dingle on the Yorkshire-based ITV soap since 2002 but revealed that she is only on a yearly contract and often wonders if her character will be written out in order to pull in viewing figures when a big anniversary approaches.

She said: "No one is safe. I’m on a year’s contract so every year I wonder, ‘Is this my last?’ It’s the show’s 50th anniversary this year. Do they need to sacrifice someone to pull in the audience?"

The former 'Crossroads' actress - who has children Lola, 16, and four-year-old twins twins Missy and Betsy with ex-fiance Rudi Coleano - also explained that when her character was forced to sell the famous Woolpack pub at the start of this year, it left her feeling "unsettled" about what would happen with her job.

She told Metro newspaper's Sixty Seconds column: "It was massively unsettling. I love being behind that bar. I get to chat to the cast and find out what’s going on in their lives. I know every inch of the place and you can guarantee the pub will feature in most episodes. I wondered what my role in the village was going to be. It was squeaky bum time. Will they find Chas a job? Will I have a job?"

However, soap bosses quickly installed Chas as the pub's manager meaning that Lucy could continue in her long-running role and the soap star - who is originally from Nottingham - gushed about how being on the programme is like getting to work with her best friends.

She added: "It’s like going to work with my best mates. And I’ve built my life here, I’ve adopted Yorkshire as my home."