An Emmerdale legend has admitted to begging bosses not to hire the actor who eventually played her on-screen husband.
Deena Payne, 66, who played Viv Hope for 18 years in ITV’s Emmerdale confessed she wasn’t taken by Tony Audenshaw, 56, who would go on to land the role of Bob Hope.
As reported by our colleagues at The Star, Deena discussed his audition with the Soap on The Box podcast. She said: "The truth being there were six people auditioning for Bob and the producer came up to me and said, ‘look did you have any feelings about any them?'
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"And I said, ‘Look just not number six because he was really creepy'. And that was Tony.
"Anyway bless him, not that anyone told him and he got the job. And in retrospect, he was so right."
The character of Bob seduced Viv in 2000, and the following year they decided to make things official and walk down the aisle.
When Vic was sent behind bars, Bob had an affair with Genesis Walker, and while the pair briefly reconciled, they eventually realised they were incompatible.
Elsewhere, Deena has opened up about her sadness in the manner her character Viv was killed off from the ITV soap. The death of Viv Hope, back in 2011, still angers some viewers of the ITV soap. It sounds like the manner of her axing was handled far from sensitively.
Viv was killed off in a fire, after getting drunk and passing out in her flat. Friend Terry Woods, played by Billy Hartman, attempted to rescue her, but was also killed in the inferno.
That was a bit of a funny thing about my death,” Deena said. “I wasn’t furious, I was a bit hurt I think because I had ridden so many waves and really enjoyed it.”
Deena joined Emmerdale in 1993, with Viv becoming one of the longest-running characters in the soap’s history.
“I was a bit taken aback when I got the script,” Deena added. “I was waiting for a storyline to work up and I’d got pantomime because I knew I was going.
“I just went up and asked if I was in anything that week because I’m starting pantomime and she said, ‘Oh you’ve gone, you’re not in it’.”
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