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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Isobel Hine & Kate Lally

ITV Emmerdale star Fiona Wade's Grange Hill throwback snap

Emmerdale star Fiona Wade looked very different when she starred in Grange Hill in the 90s.

The 43-year-old is best known for playing Priya Sharma in the Yorkshire-based ITV soap, which she has starred in since 2011. But her first job in television saw her play a high school student from 1996 to 1998.

BBC show Grange Hill followed the life of teens and teachers in a London comprehensive school. Fiona played Joanna Day, a troubled youngster who self-medicated with booze.

READ MORE: Emmerdale fans stunned to learn Priya Sharma star's real age

The soap siren looks almost unrecognisable in a throwback snap from her time on the show, the Daily Star reports. A much younger Fiona had a short straight bob, and wore a zebra-striped t-shirt.

Fiona is now a household name, but Emmerdale isn't the only soap she has starred in over the years. Just before she arrived in the Dales, she had a small role in Coronation Street.

Fiona Wade as Joanna Day on Grange Hill in the late 90s (BBC)

Fiona played Sandeesh, a prospective buyer for Underworld. While Carla and Frank gave her a tour of the factory, Carla received a phone call telling her her mother had died.

Other TV roles the star has had over the years have included playing Anya Vicenze in 24:SEVEN from 2001 until 2002, Decca Taylor in Doctors back in 2004, Rowan Clayton in Where The Heart Is in 2006, and she was also in an episode of Waterloo Road.

Priya has been at the centre of many of Emmerdale's dramatic story-lines, her husband Rakesh starting a fire at Mill Cottage to claim on the insurance, and suffering with an eating disorder. She was also severely burned after being caught up in the maze fire.

Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7.30pm on ITV and the ITV Hub

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