Emmerdale icon Mark Charnock has revealed that the original plans for his character underwent a drastic change.
Mark Charnock has been playing Marlon Dingle in Emmerdale since 1996, but he recently revealed that he felt there was no way he'd land the part of Marlon Dingle because the soap's producers originally pictured him very, very differently!
In his interview with The Mirror, Mark explained that he wasn't very confident about getting the role. Mark said: "I went into the loo and looked in the mirror and thought, 'They have got the wrong guy".
According to The Mirror, Marlon's character description in the script read: "Marlon appears, he is a Greek god, an Adonis, the sort of man who makes women melt."
Although Mark wasn't feeling optimistic about landing the part, when he asked the director about the role, they revealed that plans for the Emmerdale character had changed significantly.
"I said to the director, 'Can I Just ask you about this description?", Mark recalled. "He said, 'Oh yes don't worry, he's now a nerd who thinks he's those things.
"They were going to have him as an absolute hunk, a beautiful, carved thing. At some point, someone said wouldn't it be funny if he was just an absolute dweeb who thought he was that? That was why I got the audition."
However, Mark wasn't disheartened with the way Marlon had changed. "It made me feel great", he joked, adding, "I thought 'Thank god I don't have to pout my way through this."
25 years on from that audition, Mark Charnock has now been nominated for two awards — Best Dramatic Performance and Best Leading Performer — at this year's British Soap Awards.
Mark's latest big Emmerdale storyline sees Marlon surviving a life-threatening stroke, and coming to terms with the impact that's had on his life. When he appeared on This Morning on June 8, Mark admitted he was nervous about the public's reaction to the storyline.
"I was really nervous about the reaction because as we keep saying in all the interviews, no strokes are the same. So I was worried about the online response, but it's been remarkable actually.
"Even if Marlon's stroke wasn't like the stroke they had witnessed or experienced themselves, they've empathised with it."
Emmerdale continues tonight at 7:30 pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
