Louise Jameson, a 70-year-old acting legend, has joined the Yorkshire-based ITV soap as a new character this week.

She will play Rhona Goskirk’s mother Mary in an unexpected appearance set to air on Monday, March 7.

ITV has already hinted that the couple has a “strained relationship,” which could make for entertaining viewing for Emmerdale fans in the coming weeks. Rhona is still coming to terms with her ex-husband and villain Pierce Harris’ death and his son, Marcus, becoming a more regular part of the village, but she is also planning a romantic proposal for her boyfriend Marlon Dingle.

So, will Mary’s unexpected arrival in the village throw a wrench in the works? Will it help to heal the mother-daughter schism, or will it exacerbate their estrangement? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

But this isn’t Louise’s first trip to the Dales; in the 1970s, she played a teen named Sharon Crossthwaite in the soap. Sharon Crossthwaite was the daughter of Beryl and Ronnie Crossthwaite and the cousin of Annie Sugden, one of Emmerdale’s original characters. She didn’t last long in the soap because she was the first character to be murdered in the ITV soap.

The actress has played a variety of roles in both television and theatre, but she is perhaps best known for her roles as Leela, Tom Baker’s companion in Doctor Who in 1977, Susan Young in Bergerac for five years, and Rosa di Marco in EastEnders for two years.

Louise also appeared as Blanche Simmons in the 1980s TV series Tenko and as Anne Reynolds in the late 1970s TV show The Omega Factor. She appeared in BBC’s Silent Witness in 2020 and has had various roles in the BBC soap Doctors from 2006 to 2019. In 2011, she portrayed Eleanor Glasson in ITV’s Doc Martin.

Photo and make up courtesy of Scott Beszick… Here's Mary. (I think) she's with you Monday. #Emmerdale pic.twitter.com/otmbdA1PjU

— Louise Jameson (@Lou_Jameson) March 6, 2022

Louise teased her new role with her 32k Twitter followers on Sunday, March 6, by posting a picture on her account. “Scott Beszick provided the photography and make-up… Mary is here. She’ll be with you on Monday, I believe. #Emmerdale ”

Louise told The Mirror of her decision to return to the village after nearly 50 years: “It was one of my first jobs when I was in Emmerdale in the early 1970s. So being offered this part feels like a full circle moment for me.”

She also stated that she did not want her character to be stereotypically elderly, and that her new character, Mary, was “better than anything I could have come up with.”

“Old people shouldn’t always be represented in cardigans and on Zimmer frames,” she explained, adding, “I was going to talk to Emmerdale about it when I came in for the chat.” But before I could take a breath, they gave me a rough outline of where she was going, and it stopped me dead in my tracks. It was far superior to anything I could have concocted.

“As a mum myself I wince at some of the things Mary says,” Louise said of Rhona’s mum Mary, “There’s such a fine line between supporting and interfering. With my own two boys [Harry and Tom] I really hope that I tread the line of supporting, but I’ve no doubt if you talked to them, they’d say that I interfered sometimes!”

But will Louise be in the soap for the long-haul? “I’d love to stay as long as they want me,” she explained: “It’s a lovely job to land in your 70s, I’m so grateful.”