Emmerdale star Louise Marwood loves being the soap's new villain!

Louise as Chrissie in Emmerdale (Andrew Boyce / ITV)

LANDING a leading role in a top soap is undoubtedly a cut above for any actress.

Now another type of cut has seen Louise Marwood’s Emmerdale character, Chrissie, take off in a whole new, even more high-profile, direction.

Insiders say that one of the ITV show’s producers saw her new bob hairstyle and reckoned it might just be helpful in Chrissie being seen to have a much harder edge.

Now Louise is being groomed as Emmerdale’s new superbitch.

And, as iN10 speaks to her on the Leeds set, the thankfully non-bitchy actress is happily upfront about how Chrissie is going to be viewed from now.

“Yes, in a nutshell, evil bitch, we’ll go with that,” laughs Louise, 36.

“Horrible and nasty to everyone – and enjoying it.

“As an actor I’m relishing it as well because my lines have become much more interesting and more fun.”

Louise insists it’s a really welcome development and that there have been well thought-out reasons behind the transformation.

“At the beginning Chrissie was the victim and we wanted to fight against that as it’s not very attractive on screen,” she explains.

“You always have to find strength in characters I think.

“She was having an affair with Aaron and it led to one thing after another.

“Then it became quite catastrophic with the helicopter crash and the deaths.

“So all these awful things that have happened to Chrissie are as a result of her actions.

“With what happened with her and Robert, it’s part of the reason why she is the way she is now.

“She becomes hardened by men.

“Her son lets her down and she finds out Lawrence isn’t actually her father.

“In fact, it seems like everybody in the world has let her down and she can’t handle it herself.

“So she has a protective barrier that turns into something nasty.

“Nobody seems to be that safe in the village at the moment. She seems to turn on everyone, which is incredibly fun.”

Hiding to nothing: Louise says her Emmerdale character, Chrissie, feels she’s been let down by the men in her life (Andrew Boyce / ITV)

Louise, who has previously dabbled in the soap world with a Hollyoaks role and a short earlier Emmerdale dalliance, says that on occasions she wishes she could be just a fraction more like Chrissie.

“I would never speak like that in a million years.

“Getting the opportunity to do it is fun. But in reality I am too nice, I avoid confrontation.

“I’m not the sort of person that would say it like she does.

“You might be more successful dealing with things rather than being passive/aggressive or going home and bottling it all up.

“No one else particularly likes them, but not caring is what makes people successful.

“Not bending yourself to other people, just being honest and ruthless.”

Chrissie’s evil ways have been to the fore, with Andy now on the run, having only finally twigged at the end of last week that she set him up, landing him in court.

She framed him for the shooting of Lawrence and Andy’s desperate flight is expected to lead to the exit of old favourite Kelvin Fletcher.

But Louise is going nowhere anytime soon with her superbitch role really ramping up.

“I knew I would be here for two years, but I’ve just signed a contract for another year,” she revealed.

“I didn’t feel like I would have unfinished business, but I do, which is why I have signed another contract.”

And being in demand as a show regular has led to a big change for Bristol-born Louise.

“I’ve sort of put down roots,” she adds. “I live here in the week then probably about once a month I go back to Bristol because my sister has children so I like to go back and see them and see my mum and dad.

“It’s not as often as I’d like but I am always either on the M1 or a train, constantly living out of suitcases.”

Emmerdale, ITV, Mon-Fri, 7pm (also 8pm, Thurs)

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