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National news

If you’re a fan of ITV’s Emmerdale, you will be familiar with the long-standing character Marlon Dingle, played by actor Mark Charnock. From next Monday, a new storyline will centre on Marlon as he has a life-threatening stroke.

The Emmerdale team wanted to show how stroke affects the UK’s 1.3 million stroke survivors and their families. The episodes have been carefully produced with our support to ensure they do this truthfully and honestly. 

Our Chief Executive, Juliet Bouverie, said: “We are delighted that Emmerdale and Mark Charnock are taking on this challenging story. As a charity, we are very pleased to have been able to offer our advice and support from the beginning of the process. A number of stroke consultants, stroke survivors and teams across the charity have helped the Emmerdale production team to ensure a realistic depiction of stroke is portrayed on screen.”

We put actor Mark Charnock in touch with a number of stroke survivors and their families to hear their experiences first-hand.

Mark said: “Working with Emmerdale‘s research team and the Stroke Association on this storyline has been a total eye-opener for me. It’s an enormous responsibility to try and get it right for the survivors and their families and for those who’ve lost loved ones to this awful event. No two strokes are the same, but the after-effects are devastating. I’m very proud of the show for telling the story and for letting me be a part of it.”

In the coming months, scenes will explore how Marlon and his family, friends and loved ones will come to terms with the diagnosis and how it will impact their future and the wider community. We will be following the storyline closely on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, where we will be providing useful information and support related to the challenges they face.


If you or your loved ones have been affected by stroke, we're here for you. Find out how we can support you or sign up to receive our regular emails.