When one of Emmerdale’s best-loved characters, Chas Dingle, decides to have a bilateral mastectomy next week after a triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis, it is a choice she understandably doesn’t take lightly.
It was her friend and lover, Dr Liam Cavanagh, who first noticed a lump on her right breast in January and urged her to get it checked out.
And Chas – played by Lucy Pargeter for 22 years – has always been mindful of the disease after her mum, Faith, died of breast cancer last year, with the family never finding out whether she carried a faulty BRCA gene or not.
In a storyline that has gripped viewers, Chas had genetic testing confirming she had inherited one. While some triple-negative breast cancer patients opt for chemotherapy and immunotherapy, she is advised a mastectomy would be best given her altered BRCA2 gene.
But in emotional scenes airing next week, the Emmerdale favourite decides to play it as safe as possible – and have a double mastectomy.
Lucy, 46, and the soap’s bosses hope the plot, created with the help of charity Breast Cancer Now, will raise awareness about a cancer that affects 55,000 women and 400 men every year who are also diagnosed with it.
“You would never ever want to wish this diagnosis on anybody,” says Lucy. “But this is a chance for us as a soap to help raise awareness about breast cancer and help people who are going through it.
“Chas is a very pragmatic and practical person and when she is told she is a carrier of an altered BRCA2 gene, she knows there is a risk of developing other breast cancers in the future. She thinks, ‘OK if there is a chance, then let’s take the option of a double mastectomy as a solution’.
“She wants to try and fix it and doesn’t think about what emotional after-effects she will feel. For Chas, getting rid of the problem is what she wants to focus on now.”
Lucy says her first reaction on hearing Chas would have stage-one breast cancer was a determination to portray her nightmare as accurately as she could. “It is always daunting when someone trusts you with a storyline like this,” she confides. “I did feel a huge responsibility and all I hoped was that I could do it well. I have found myself welling up filming the scenes. The writers have done a tremendous amount of research on the subject which they have shared with me.”
Lucy also talked to other people she knew personally who have had breast cancer. “I didn’t talk to them about their personal experiences as I would never want to mimic someone else’s story, but I wanted to know how they felt after they had had surgery.”
Lucy has gone out of her way to make sure she gets even the smallest details right as she films the difficult storyline. She says the practical realities of having such major surgery and what follows afterwards, such as having a drain put in to stop fluid building up, are vital to the storyline too. “I’ve wanted to get as many practical tips as possible,” she adds. “So for instance, Chas won’t be able to lift her arms normally for two to three weeks following surgery, so I have asked if we can have a scene where one of the members of her family puts her hair up for her. I’ve also had meetings with make-up too.
“I am portraying real life and not many women have make-up on when they have just had surgery as they don’t care what they look like, so I won’t be wearing any either. It’s about getting the finer details right and making sure I give as true a reflection as I possibly can.” Since the initial diagnosis for Chas in January, Lucy reveals she has received many messages of support.
“Chas is a character who people have watched for years and it’s been nice to receive messages from people getting in touch on X (Twitter), who have said that when watching the storyline they felt the same as she did when they were diagnosed. “It’s important that people don’t feel alone.”
Always vigilant herself, Lucy regularly checks her own breasts for any lumps or other changes – but says the storyline has emphasised to her the importance of doing so.
She has never had any issues but recalls how she needed surgery in 2019 to remove her DD breast implants. It followed 11 years of suffering painful side effects.
“Obviously there is absolutely no comparison whatsoever with someone who has to have a mastectomy,” says Lucy. “I do check my breasts regularly and I feel so much better now I have had my implants removed.
“While I don’t regret having them, I did not realise how much they would affect me in a physical way.
“I had constant itchiness on my chest and underneath my arms, pain in my groin and hips, anxiety, and brain fog. It was only after I talked to people who were going through similar things that I realised it was my implants causing these symptoms and I had surgery to remove them. I am so glad Idid.”
Lucy, a single mum to three daughters, says she tries to eat healthily and exercise whenever she has any spare time. “I do have a good balance when it comes to being healthy,” she says. “And I am lucky I love my job. I’ve had a lot of tough storylines playing Chas over the past 22 years and I am so proud to be part of this one.
“There is so much more awareness now about breast cancer with other TV shows too like Lorraine, but this is another timely reminder – for men as well as women – that they should check themselves regularly.”
■ If you have been affected by the Chas breast cancer storyline, you can find more information at breastcancernow.org. Emmerdale airs every week night at 7:30pm on ITV1
