Created 10th January 2004
Updated 28th May 2004
About Leah Bracknell -
Emmerdale's Zoë Tate
Leah Bracknell |
A Huge Big Thank you to Paul Berridge who has made various profiles and photos availabe to me. They were previously on his Beckindale site (that is no more). This is one of those profiles - although the coloured boxes and information after 2001 have been added. |
| As the daughter of a film director, working in front of or behind the camera was always on the cards for Leah Bracknell. Her late father, David Bracknell, directed children's television programmes and films, including the acclaimed Childreds Film Foundation productions Cup Fever and The Chiffy Kids. As a first assistant director on major feature films, he was also responsible for sequences such as the aerial flying scenes in The Battle of Britain. | ||
| 'I wanted to be an actress from the age of five,' says Leah, who, since joining Emmerdale in 1989, has seen her character, Zoë Tate, rise from student to fully fledged vet and come to terms with her sexuality, realising that she is attracted to women rather than men. | ||
| 'I used to hang out with the technicians when my father was making films and inevitably you pick up the whole atmosphere. I spent years bullying him into giving me things to do until he finally let me appear in The Chiffy Kids. His attitude was, "If you're serious, go to drama school." So I did, and then I went to New Zealand for a year. My father was working on the film Savage Island in Fiji and I pestered him to let me do something, so I helped out in the wardrobe department.' | ||
| On returning to Britain, Leah formed a cabaret act with a friend, did modelling and appeared in TV commercials - some of them made for the Middle East. She acted in stage plays and had small roles on TV in The Cannon & Ball Show and The Bill. Then came the part of Zoë Tate, daughter of millionaire Frank and stepdaughter of his secretary turned-second wife Kim. On graduating from Edinburgh University, Zoë joined the Hotten veterinary practice Bennetts but resigned after discovering it was responsible for experiments on animals and left Britain to become a flying vet in New Zealand. | ||
 Archie Brooks |
Returning later, she set up
her own practice in Emmerdale. When she found it difficult to consummate
her relationship with Archie Brooks, Zoë asserted that she would never
love any man and was a lesbian.
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She found a partner in interior designer Emma Nightingale, but Emma's old flame Susie Wilde took her from Emma, only for that partnership to end with Susie's infidelity. Zoë later fell for nanny Sophie Wright and later still, Trucker Frankie Smith. | |
| 'It wasn't really until Zoë came out as a lesbian that she got interesting,' says Leah. 'When she was despatched to New Zealand, I had left to have a baby and did'nt intend to return. But Morag Bain - the producer at the time - asked me to come back for a couple of months and I stayed. | ||
| 'I've really found it interesting the way the writers have developed the stories since Zoë came out. When she had a live-in lover, Emma, and the "wedding" ceremony, it prompted a huge response from people. All but about six of the letters I received were positive. Some would identify with the character and use me as a confidante. | ||
| 'I've read quite a lot of literature - people's accounts of coming out and telling their family - to understand what it might be like to tell someone close to you something quite difficult for them to comprehend. That part of her character is something o social interest - it's an issue you can't neglect.' | ||
| Leah juggles her working life with being mother to the two young daughters, Lily and Maya, she has with her partner, director Lyall Watson. 'It's harder now that the programme goes out three times a week,' she says. 'The hours are much more irregular.' | ||
Cover Story: Zoe gets more like her evil brother every day;Emmerdale's Leah Bracknell reveals why she is ready to play hardwith scheming Charity.(Features)
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