Caroline Harker plays Dr Todd in Emmerdale (Image: ITV)
Fans of Emmerdale have been left speechless after working out where they recognise actor Caroline Harker from. The 60-year-old star is currently playing evil Dr Caitlin Todd in the hit ITV soap.
Dr Todd has been tormenting her mentee, Jacob Sugden (Joe-Warren Plant), for months, with the youngster eventually filing an official complaint with HR. The villain has now set her sights on Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins), after learning that Jacob’s newborn daughter, Leyla, isn’t his biological child – she’s actually Charity’s daughter with Ross Barton (Michael Parr).
Dr Todd asked for £10,000 in exchange for her silence, before upping the blackmail to £100,000, after learning that Charity owns half of The Woolpack. Charity has since started to look for a buyer that’s interested in her share of the pub, as Todd continues to make her intentions clear.
On Monday (May 18), Todd gave Charity a hard deadline of one week to get her money. When Charity urged her blackmailer to get out of her house, Todd warned: “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
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The evil doctor has been blackmailing Charity Dingle (Image: ITV)
The drama continues in Tuesday’s (May 19) episode, which is now available to stream on ITVX. During the instalment, Todd was intrigued to learn that Ross and Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) once had a fling.
Wanting to feel the power she has over Charity, Todd invited Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) and Ross over for a darts game, with the doctor asking about Ross and Mack’s relationships. In the toilets, Charity told Todd to back off, but soon realised that she had no power over the situation – leaving Todd triumphant.
As Todd continues to torment the Charity, some Emmerdale fans have realised where they’ve seen actor Caroline Harker before. The star has appeared in a variety of British TV series and films over the years, including A Touch of Frost, Holding On, Keeping Mum, and Doctors.
One soap fan has also remembered Caroline’s role in 90s sketch show Harry Enfield and Chums. The actress primarily played Toddlers’ Mum, appearing alongside two iconic toddler characters, usually played by Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke.
“Watching a re-run of Harry Enfield and Chums and Dr Todd is Harry and Lulu’s mum!” a stunned fan wrote on a Facebook fan page.
The star previously appeared in Harry Enfield and Chums (Image: YouTube)
Another added: “Knew I recognised her voice!” while a third said: “That’s where I know her from!”
A fourth fan echoed the sentiment, saying: “Oh god!! Yes she is!! I think I preferred that role lol,” with another similarly sharing: “I knew I’d seen her somewhere before!”
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning last week, Charity star Emma Atkins teased that there’s more to come with Dr Todd’s storyline. “There’s a trajectory that it’s going to keep going for some time. [Charity’s secret] has to [come out] at some point, but it’s going to heat up,” she said.
“[Todd’s] coming into her patch in Emmerdale, she’s getting involved with Vanessa and she’s like, ‘Why are you here? What do you want?’ So, it’s going to go quite dark, I think.”
Emmerdale airs weekday nights at 8pm on ITV1 and STV, while Coronation Street airs weekday nights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and STV as part of ITV’s new soap power hour scheduling pattern for Coronation Street and Emmerdale