Emmerdale star Amanda Donohoe quits the ITV1 soap

Emmerdale star Amanda Donohoe quits the ITV1 soap
Emmerdale star Amanda Donohoe quits the ITV1 soap (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Amanda Donohoe is quitting her role as murderous mother of three Natasha Wylde in Emmerdale. The actress will film her final scenes later this year after two years in the rural ITV1 soap. She said: "My initial contract with Emmerdale was only for a year so the fact I've stayed for two years is testimony to the show's fantastic cast, crew and producers - Gavin Blyth and Steve November." A spokeswoman for Emmerdale added: "We can confirm Amanda Donohoe will be leaving Emmerdale at the end of her current contract. Natasha's story has been central to the drama of the show and her departure gives us scope for an explosive climax as the story takes its final twists and turns." Natasha shot dead her bigamist husband Mark and buried his body, but the corpse will be unearthed this week. Last month it emerged that Alice Coulthard was leaving the role of Natasha's daughter Maisie Wylde. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk's weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.