Emmerdale star Karen Blick says she was left in tears when she read for the first time how

the show will pay tribute to late co-star Steve Halliwell. The actor, famed for playing Zak Dingle

in the ITV soap tragically died in December 2023, aged 77. A statement issued on December 15

confirmed Steve had passed away at home while surrounded by his family after 29 years of service in Emmerdale. The soap emotionally said of Steve at the time: “Steve will forever be synonymous with Emmerdale. The proud defender and head of the Dingle family. Heart and humour in all he did, it has been and always will be impossible not to smile when you think of him.” Zak has continued to be mentioned in Emmerdale, with Belle recently planning to escape to Scotland from her abusive husband Tom King to where he is said to be living with Debbie Dingle. But Emmerdale’s newest producer Sophie Roper confirmed that there will be difficult scenes ahead of the iconic family as they say goodbye to Zak. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Sophie, who is now working alongside fellow producer Laura Shaw, said: “The Dingles have been at the heart of our show for 30 years now and will continue to be so.

As many of you know, we lost Steve recently so we’re going to be marking Zak’s passing in the coming months with a Dingle funeral.” She added: “It’s very difficult for a lot of people who work on the show and for a lot of our viewers who have grown and loved Zak for many, many years. But there will be a hugely fitting tribute to such an iconic character coming up.” Now, Karen, who plays Lydia Dingle in the long-running soap, has told the Manchester Evening News at the RadioTimes.com Soap Awards at Manchester’s Midland Hotel on Saturday night (July 13), that it will be emotional after she cried when reading the upcoming scripts. She said: “We knew that the team at Emmerdale was going to honour and respect the iconic character that Steve made in Zak Dingle.

I read the script actually yesterday and it made me cry. The first few scripts are starting to tease through now and I did, I cried and I thought the audience are in for a treat. It’s very sad but it’s incredibly heartwarming and a wonderful tribute to Steve and important to Zak Dingle.” Also speaking of being part of the Dingle family, with Lydia marrying Sam back in 2020, Karen told us: “I adore it! It’s amazing to be in Emmerdale anyway. I’m a Yorkshire woman in, in a Yorkshire soap – it’s a dream come true. But to be in the Dingles, it’s like the icing on the cake. It’s fantastic! “We’re like one big family outside of work as well. Everyone looks out for each other, we all look after each other when you’re busy, everyone’s checking in. We have a WhatsApp group as well which Danny [Miller] posts amusing pictures and anecdotes to but it’s lovely. They’re a great bunch of people. I couldn’t ask for a better on-screen family and I love working with James Hooton.”