Lizzie Lakely: Emmerdale's new likely lass

With all eyes in the Wool Pack on a new blind character, Ivy Broadhead checks out soap’s latest arrival

Something strange is happening in TV-Land. After years of disabled people asking for real, rounded disabled characters played by disabled actors, the execs finally seem to be listening.

We’ve had a troubled Deaf teenager on Shameless, a wheelchair-user flirting her way around Hollyoaks, and a schoolteacher with restricted growth on Eastenders.

Now Emmerdale’s getting in on the action with the introduction of Lizzie Lakely (Kitty McGeever), a mouthy middle-aged blind woman who arrives in the village as part of community service.

She turns out to be an old friend of Lisa Dingle’s and wastes no time in exploiting her old friendship for the sake of a free dinner, and when she gets chucked out of her accommodation, a bed for the night as well.

Blind she may be, but inspirational she’s not. Lizzie cheats, lies and steals her way around the dale, from lying about a lost wallet on the bus to sneaking a sip of other people’s pints in the pub; she’s not above using her blindness to get what she wants. If people are going to patronise her by excusing her behaviour on account of her blindness, she’s not going to be the one to stop them.

Some might argue that with so few disabled characters on mainstream telly, it’s important that those we
do see don’t reinforce negative stereotypes.

But a choir of angels does little to normalise disability or raise understanding. Characters in soap operas are caricatures, from the joyless spinster Edna Birch to Eric Pollard, the money-grabbing businessman, and Lizzie the petty criminal is no different.

The reactions of the other characters in the show to Lizzie’s blindness seem quite realistic so far, from curiosity and surprise to concern over her ability to manage pouring gravy over her roast dinner or making it to the pub on her own. The latter’s certainly not anything she has trouble with.

It will be interesting to see how the character develops and is involved in future storylines. My hope is that the writers will continue to maintain the balance of not denying her blindness but not fixating on it either.

From what we’ve seen so far, I reckon she’ll fit in pretty well with all the underhand local politics, OAP-romances and child custody battles that seem to keep the rest of the Emmerdale residents busy.