Emma Atkins has being played Charity Dingle for years now and it's fair to say her character has had plenty of ups and downs.
Charity first arrived in the village to attend her cousin Butch's funeral alongside her uncle Shardrach and the resident bad boy Cain.
She has appeared in other shows such as Doctors and Casualty but the role of Charity was her first - and she bagged it in her final year of university.
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The soap star was working as a designer at the time, as she saved to be able to follow her acting dreams.
But as the Mirror reports, Emma actually found it "quite bizarre" to suddenly be playing a sex worker who originally had a warrant out for her arrest.
The role almost wasn't hers as Suranne Jones - who played Karen McDonald in Coronation Street - auditioned first.
Yet in 2000, Emma found herself filming in the fictional Dales and making her TV screen debut.
Speaking to the Daily Star in 2001, she said: "I just thought: 'How can I play a Dingle?' If you know me you would understand that as I am so far removed from my character.
"But the more she told me the more I thought I would enjoy it, and so I went to the audition, so nervous that I can't remember a thing about it, and thought I wouldn't get it."
Whilst Emma is very different to her on-screen persona, she's never had a bad word to say about the Dingle girl, saying: " "Oh, I can't slag her off, can I? I have to say that her tiny little skirts and skimpy outfits are not my cup of tea, but it's hardly a problem.
"She's a brilliant character to play, she's a character of substance. She's a b****, yes, but you can tell that there are different sides to her that we have yet to see and I hope I can stay in the show for a long time to come."
Charity Dingle has been causing a stir in the soap recently after her relationship with son Ryan Stocks turned sour.
Ryan had been furious with his mother after she meddled in his dodgy dealings and slept with his housemate Mackenzie Boyd.
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