'Celia's moral compass is buried'

Emmerdale's Jaye Griffiths on the freedom of playing a villain, why her character always wears a cravat and the drama to come

- WORDS: CHARLOTTE TUTTON

t can't be easy playing an evil drug boss, but Emmerdale's Jaye Griffiths says there's something "freeing" about embodying villainous Celia Daniels.

Farmer Celia arrived in June and got friendly with Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb), before her link to adopted son Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) emerged last month as the soap's modern slavery storyline began to unfold.

For Jaye, 62, playing a character without a conscience is great fun. "Celia has no little voice in her head," says Jaye. "You know the one that tells women, 'You're not enough, you're too tall, you're too short, you're too fat, you're too thin, you're too old, you're too young'? That self-critical, nasty voice that stops us doing things. Celia doesn't have one of those. If there are no consequences internally, you can do anything you want."

Recently, we've seen Celia and Ray drag teens April Windsor and Dylan Penders into their dodgy drug deals under false pretences and now April is being pressured to provide sexual services, too.

It's certainly a different type of role for Jaye, who's used to playing respectable characters in shows including Casualty, Silent Witness and Doctors.