Emmerdale has confirmed a new storyline for long-standing character Brenda Walker ahead of her upcoming exit from the village.

It was reported late last year that Lesley Dunlop was quitting her role as Brenda after more than 16 years in the Dales, but it seems that there’s more in store for Brenda before she moves on.

In upcoming scenes, Brenda catches up with Nicola King and is bemused when she points out that Brenda seems to have won a magazine competition.

Brenda is quick to confirm that she’s turning down the prize that she’s won, leaving Nicola sceptical.

Is Nicola about to come up with a sneaky plan? And could her intervention cause an argument between her and Brenda ahead of Brenda’s exit?

Emmerdale has not yet commented on Dunlop’s departure.

Brenda’s most recent big storyline saw her breaking off her relationship with Eric Pollard just before Christmas, after she realised that Eric had been keeping secrets from her and that his marriage proposal may have been fuelled by his Parkinson’s medication.

Although Eric later tried to make things up to Brenda by proposing again, she reminded him that he’d said he couldn’t imagine getting married again, and she announced that she would be moving out.

After first being introduced as Gennie Walker’s adoptive mum in 2008, Brenda put down roots in the village and later married Bob Hope.

Brenda’s other storylines have included battling a brain tumour and becoming a step-parent to Bob’s children Cathy and Heath, as well as grieving for Heath when he was killed in a car crash last year.

In real life, Dunlop has been married to her co-star Chris Chittell, who plays Eric, since 2016, after they started a relationship soon after she made her Emmerdale debut.