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- Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson to join House of Lords
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- Blue badge database for London
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old news
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Document Actions
Blind first for Emmerdale
By Cathy Reay
A disabled actress will be the first to play a blind character on a British soap.
Actress Kitty McGeever will make her debut as the first blind permenant character in a British soap on Tuesday evening.
RADA-trained McGeever has been cast to play the role of Lizzie Lakely in ITV1 soap Emmerdale.
Lizzie is introduced as an old friend of old-time character Lisa Dingle’s, whose foul mouth and bad seed tendencies soon grate on the other characters.
Kitty lost her sight at the age of 33 as a result of illness. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Front Row’ programme, Kitty said that when she went blind she thought her career was over.
However, she’s a "big believer in chance", as producers from Emmerdale saw her performing a one-woman stage show about her life and approached her for the part.
But she’s quick to fight off any allegations that she’s filling a disabled quota, saying: “I’m not representing anyone, I’m Kitty McGeever and I’m just blind.”
• Kitty can be seen on Emmerdale from 7pm Tuesday April 28 on ITV1