I'm indebted to Ruby Wax!

Emmerdale's Lisa Riley on her stint in the I'm a Celebrity... jungle and coming up to 50

- CHRISTINE SMITH

After I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and as her soap character, Mandy Dingle, makes a grand return to Emmerdale this week, actor Lisa Riley admits she is feeling excited about embracing 50.

Lisa, 49, who has played Mandy on and off for more than 30 years, says it's thanks to her jungle experience that the prospect of turning the big 5-0 in July now makes her feel 'giddy' as she embraces everything that is thrown at her.

Looking and sounding happy, she confides, 'I had so much fun every day on I'm a Celebrity... and I had the most amazing time. It was a lot harder than I imagined but I am so proud of myself for overcoming my fears.'

The star tells Woman's Weekly, 'I am also proud of how much weight I lost and everyone, since I returned to the UK, keeps saying, "Wow." I am looking forward to my 50th now. Yes, I don't want to grow up, but it's only my passport that says my age! Plans are already afoot, she adds, for plenty of celebrations. As well as a special holiday with her long-term partner Al, whom she met in 2014, she is also planning a big party with other cast and crew members who are also turning 50. Her fellow Emmerdale friends have, she adds, been very supportive.