Emmerdale bride Lucy Pargeter decided that her character Chas Dingle required a touch of the Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

ACTRESS Lucy Pargeter helped design the wedding dress for her character Chas Dingle, one of Emmerdale’s two brides next week.

“It’s probably the chavviest dress. She’s gone second hand this time, think Little Mermaid slash Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” she says.

The show’s regular wedding dress designer was so appalled by the concept that “she was extremely gutted, very disappointed and she almost refused to make it because it’s so horrendous”, reveals Pargeter.

“We tried to make it look like it had come from eBay or somewhere really nasty. She doesn’t do nasty, she does amazing. She was like, ‘If I tweak it there or do that there’ and we were like, ‘No, don’t finish it off, don’t make it look nice’.”

Five dreadful dresses have been made to cope with all eventualities during the live show, like it raining or getting ripped.

“I had the most amazing dress by her for last year’s wedding when I was supposed to get married to Carl. So I’ve had the nice one.”

If the dress is shocking, so is Chas hooking up with Dan Spencer, described by Liam Fox who plays him as a “scruff-bag loser” when he first arrived in Emmerdale. He couldn’t be happier being a cast regular. “I was a jobbing actor, bobbing about, skint six months of the year and then you get a great job, great character, great people. To me, it’s just brilliant.”

Pargeter was pleased too coming off a series of dramatic storylines. “To be partnered with Dan/Liam was brilliant because I could bring some humour that I’d left behind. To have days and days of laughing instead of days and days of crying and being emotional is just brilliant,” she says.

“Even if she’s doing it for all the wrong reasons, as a character combination I think it works.”

Fox knew what the working life of a soap actor was like because his actress wife, Nicola Barber-Lane, has been in C4’s Hollyoaks for five years. “I was aware of her talking about the schedule and I was used to the way her life was working. It’s a case of just knowing your lines, getting on and being professional. Realise it’s a job and don’t get an ego,” he says.

He had no idea what was in store for Dan, who was dumped by his wife when she ran off with another woman. “I didn’t have the foggiest idea.

I was supposed to come back every now and then. Suddenly I came back and heard rumours about the Chas and Dan thing,” he says.

“You never have a clue what’s in store. It’s like being on a rollercoaster. Half of me doesn’t want to know what’s happening in the future but just enjoy it.”

Pargeter approaches the prospect of the live episode as a realist not a pessimist. “I know everything that could go wrong. I like to know too much information I’m asking the camera guys, the lighting guys, everybody. I want to know the ins and outs of everyone’s job,” she says.

“I’m just a bit of a control freak. We’re all starting to have anxiety dreams in case anything goes wrong. But if it does, who cares.

We’ve given it a good go and we’re all in it together.

Some people only watch to see things go wrong anyway. So at least we’ll entertain a few people. But it’ll be fine.”

As for her hopes for Chas in the future, she says, “Be happy”. Then reconsiders. “No, that’s far too boring. I’ve got no idea where it’s going to go. The fear is that you’ve been so busy and so much has happened what else is there they can give you?"