Emmerdale’s Natalie J Robb opens up about emotional real-life loss as she reveals Moira Barton’s fate after brain tumour
NATALIE J Robb has opened up about a recent personal loss and how it influenced her portrayal of Moira Barton’s upcoming battle with a brain tumour on Emmerdale.
Emmerdale star Natalie J Robb, who plays Moira Barton, recently spoke out about a deeply personal loss that has affected her off-screen, while also sharing insights into Moira’s future storyline.
In upcoming episodes, Moira faces a harrowing journey as her character deals with a brain tumour diagnosis.
Natalie’s revelations add a layer of emotional resonance to the plot, reflecting her real-life grief and how it informs her portrayal of Moira during this difficult arc in the show.
She opened up about the loss of her pet dog Bronson – who passed away on February.
Natalie told The Sun and other press: “Bronson, I had him for thirteen and a half years, it’s a long time so it was awful, and it was just me and him.
“I got this necklace made of him, it’s got his chest fur inside, aquamarine is my favourite stone and this is a good one to wear near your heart centre.
“His chest hair is inside there and his ear hair is inside there. I wore it for about two weeks and then I saw this dog. I’d had a dream about this beige dog with black eyes and a black nose as an adult.
“And then after I got this necklace, two weeks later I saw it as a pup and I just went ‘that’s uncanny, that’s weird.’”
The actress shared that she has recently bought a new puppy and plans to spend New Year’s Eve with him.
She continued: “This morning, I got a delivery of a six month old puppy that I’ve rescued from Spain, so if I look tired to you, that’s why.
“He arrived at 3.30 this morning, I got about two hours sleep, his name’s Buddy. If anything, he’s my Xmas present to myself, and just to do lots of lovely things with him.”
“He’s a Spanish Mastin so he looks like Bambi, he’s really tall and got beautiful black eyeliner, I think ‘Wow Buddy, how have you done your eyes so perfectly?’
“He’s got beautiful eyes and he just looks like a dog on stilts at the moment. He came last night and he was all frightened and within two minutes he was cuddling us. He’s six months so he’s been in kennels since he was born.”
Meanwhile, in the Dales, Natalie’s character Moira Dingle is undergoing an operation for her brain tumour.
Natalie teased: “She is a strong character and to suddenly lose her identity almost and slowly losing small pieces of her.”
Moira Barton's biggest Emmerdale storylines
Played by Natalie J. Robb, Moira has become one of Emmerdale's most prominent characters since her debut in 2009.
AFFAIR WITH CAIN DINGLE
In October 2011, Moira began an affair with Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), whom she had previously loathed.
At the time, she was married to first husband and childhood sweetheart John (James Thornton).
JOHN’S DEATH
In the characters’ backstory, John and Moira had been married since 1990. They shared three children: Adam, Hannah (now Matty) and Holly.
While John struggled to forgive Moira’s infidelity, he also realised he couldn’t live without her.
Ultimately, the character of John was written out by having a car accident and fatal cardiac arrest.
Afterwards, Moira and Cain began a relationship and later married.
ADAM’S PATERNITY
It transpired that Cain was not the first man that Moira had an affair with.
She previously slept with John’s brother James (Bill Ward) – with the revelation that he is her son Adam’s biological father.
MURDER OF EMMA BARTON
James’ estranged wife Emma (Gillian Kearney) was introduced as a soap villain, reuniting with her clan after two decades.
In October 2017, Emma was killed off in a who-dunnit storyline after being pushed off a viaduct.
She reappeared one last time in December 2017 for a flashback, where her killer was revealed to be archenemy Moira.
Upcoming scenes will see the character prepare for the worst as she prepares a living will.
The ITV soap revealed that Moira will not be killed off, but she will still have to go through some treatment afterwards.
Natalie teased: “There could be some slight personality change, it could be that she just faces things differently because she’s been faced with such an ordeal.
“She chooses to deal with things maybe a bit differently because life is so precious and it was nearly taken away from her.
“I think if anyone loses a loved one or a dog, which I did in February, the grief was overwhelming and it really makes you go ‘Right, you’ve got to really appreciate every day as you live it.’”
The actress shared how gruelling filming the harrowing scenes can be as she said: “Emotionally it was exhausting because of the journey of it, feeling the fear of it, going through some of the earlier scenes between Cain and Moira which were lovely where she is really scared, there was a lot of scenes because we shoot a lot of things together.
“We did a lot of the emotional stuff in one or two days so you’re ‘Aagh’ after that. But it is exhausting but it’s also rewarding when you see it go out and you know that you’ve done a good job, that’s the main thing.
“And having the response that I’ve had from the public, who are going through it, has been wonderful, so at least I know I’ve been doing a job because I think they would tell you otherwise as well, that’s the way it is. So it’s been nice for that and hopefully raising awareness.”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.