Val Lambert

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Emmerdale character

Val Lambert
Played by Charlie Hardwick
Duration 2004-
Date of birth 19 February, circa 1957
Date of death
Marital status Single
Occupation Machinist
Family Paul, Diane, Bernice and Sharon

Valerie "Val" Lambert is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She is played by Charlie Hardwick.

[edit] About Val

When Val Lambert descended on Emmerdale, her sister Diane Blackstock didn’t know what hit her.

The two women have always had a difficult relationship after their mother died when they were young and Diane brought up her flighty sister.

On arrival in the village, Val was sporting a black eye, which she told Diane had been the fault of her previous boyfriend. But when the man in question turned up, it transpired that Val had scammed him into paying for her to have a nose job, before fleeing.

Always on the lookout for the next man to fund her lifestyle, Val was delighted to find her ex-brother-in-law Rodney Blackstock was living in Emmerdale and was now a millionaire. The pair soon embarked on a relationship and Val worked with Diane in the pub.

But Val was never happy with just one man and was sleeping with both Rodney and his employee Danny Daggert. She eventually chose Rodney, believing him to be the better bet in the long term.

However, when Diane was diagnosed with colon cancer, Rodney was devastated and realised he was still in love with her. His declaration was met with rejection by Diane, but it ended his relationship with Val as he could no longer pretend to care for her.

Furious and rejected, Val fled to Italy to stay with her son’s (Paul) lover Enzo and returned just in time for Diane’s wedding to local farmer Jack Sugden. And she wasn’t alone. Val turned up with a drop dead gorgeous hunk, half her age and tongues immediately started wagging.

When it was revealed that she’d paid him to pretend to be her man, Diane disowned her - sick of being lied to. Furious at being rejected by both her sister and Rodney, Val dropped the mother of all bombshells at the wedding.

She revealed that she and Rodney had enjoyed a passionate fling behind Diane’s back and that her son Paul was Rodney’s child. Horrified by her actions, Val found herself disowned by everyone close to her. But she remained optimistic that somehow she could turn in around.

She ended up getting close to fellow village pariah Eric Pollard and the pair struck up a partnership both professional and personal. Together they launched a fabrics company and Pollard tried to relaunch his career in politics.

However, while he was madly in love with Val, Pollard remained a deeply selfish man and when it became clear that she was standing in the way of his political career, Eric turned on her.

Although they’d agreed to pretend to split up, Val was horrified to hear Eric disowning her to the local mayor and dumped him – causing there to be high tension at the factory.

Val was plunged into a new nightmare when Jimmy Pepper, the man who’d bought Paul up believing he was his son, turned up in Emmerdale. Jimmy was horrified to hear that Val had been lying about Paul’s paternity – especially since he’d paid a fortune in maintenance.

Not only was Jimmy determined to get his money but he was also prepared to go to any means to get it. Terrified, Val ended up stealing the Woolpack’s takings to pay Jimmy off, and then pretended she’s been mugged.

When the truth was revealed, Diane went mad and reported Val to the police for theft. The resulting trial saw Val given community service which threw her into conflict with local pensioner Noreen Bell. While at first Val hated Noreen, the two women struck up friendship and joined forces to oppose Eric when he stood for council again.

By now, Val and Pollard were close to being back together and when she ended up running against him in the election. For a while the sparring and banter helped keep the spark alive between Eric and Val but when she thought it might finish their relationship for good, she tried to turn the entire electorate against her by telling all about her lying and scheming over the years.

Crazily, it didn’t work and still Pollard remained behind her in the race. Fortunately, they worked it out in the end and are back living together again.

Val has always dreamed of being rich and she thought she was on her way after investing money in Pearl Ladderbanks’ Internet Investment Scheme, unaware the whole thing was a con. When the truth came out Val held no punches when and Pearl was forced to leave the village for a while.

Val's dreams of being rich came about through unfortunate circumstances. When Noreen died in the Kings River Showhome explosion she left all her money, which she saved up for decades, to Val. Now with half the Woolpack up for sale Val appears interested which will come as a shock for sister Diane.

Actress Charlie Hardwick won the Best Comedy Performance award at the 2006 British Soap Awards for her performance as Val Lambert.

[edit] Family

[edit] See also

Preceded by
Louise Appleton
Landlady of The Woolpack
2006 -
Succeeded by
incumbent