IT'S GOOD TO BE BAD

Jaye: Emmerdale are brave to cast a Black baddie

- BY CHRISTINE SMITH

EMMERDALE'S new “super-bitch” farmer Jaye Griffiths has praised the Yorkshire soap for casting a Black actor as a baddie rather than a hero.

Already a household name after a 40-year career appearing in every-thing from Silent Witness and The Bill to Casualty and EastEnders, Jaye says the role is one of her best ever.

She says of ITV's casting: “It was courageous. We [Black actors] often portray the saviours, because the white saviour rolling in on a horse is such a trope that it's now reversed — Black people riding in to save the day.

“But Emmerdale has said, ‘Good and bad people, they don't have a skin colour, there are just good and bad people. I'm thrilled they've done this.”

And Jaye admits her character, Celia, is a delight to play. She says: “She's not a wallflower. In the opening scenes she's like a bulldog.

“Celia has so many secrets. She doesn’t need friends, she doesn't understand when people get upset and she never says sorry.