Emmerdale star Jaye Griffiths, currently playing shifty Celia, has opened up about her character’s desperate Christmas plans, and her own beautifully unconventional festive traditions!
The actress, who previously played Helen Stritch in EastEnders, revealed that while her character is trying to flee the village for the holidays, her own Christmas couldn’t be more different.
Jaye explains that Christmas is definitely not on Celia’s agenda this year, confirming that the criminal operation she runs with Ray is reaching breaking point: ‘Celia doesn’t mark Christmas. And this year she is planning on them leaving the area. As it has all got too complicated, April’s family are an irritant to her and things are also getting complicated business wise as Moira is becoming troublesome by asking too many questions.
But more alarmingly Ray has gone and fallen in love. So she’s extricating them to another area. It is clear that this is something they have done before – find another farm in another location and set up their enterprise again.’
In contrast to Celia’s fugitive lifestyle, Jaye’s own Christmas Day is perfectly planned, and sounds utterly blissful! ‘I have the most perfect Christmasses. We go to the seaside on Christmas Day. We take a mini Christmas picnic, one of those miniature bottles of champagne.
And we pack a Christmas lunch for the dogs. We get up really early, drive to the seaside, and of course it’s dark as it is like five o’clock. So then we are back in the car. We walk for miles, sit in the sand dunes, have our picnic, and watch our dogs run and run and be joy made flesh.’
‘Then we drive home, light the fire, get into our pyjamas, and have our Christmas meal in the evening. Watching a film Hopefully Elf as it is my favourite Christmas film. Or It’s A Wonderful Life. And we do presents in the evening. Then on Boxing day we don’t leave the house. Lovely. It is just joyous.’
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