Emmerdale viewers have been left gobsmacked after discovering Lucy Pargeter’s genuine accent for the first time.

Lucy rose to prominence when she joined the ITV soap as Chas Dingle in 2002, making a memorable debut disguised as a nun during her cousin Marlon’s (Mark Charnock) stag do.

It’s safe to say she quickly won over audiences. Moreover, throughout the years, Chas has been central to numerous major plotlines.

From running The Woolpack and enduring kidnapping ordeals to heartbreakingly losing her baby daughter Grace and battling breast cancer, Chas’ journey in the Dales has been packed with turmoil.

Particularly of late, as this year saw Chas caught up in a devastating limo accident that claimed the lives of multiple residents, including Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough), Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi) and Amy Barton (Natalie Ann Jamieson), reports the Daily Star.

She remains oblivious to the fact that her cherished son Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) has secretly wed a murderer, John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth). Nevertheless, soap enthusiasts have recently been left speechless upon hearing Lucy’s authentic voice for the first time.

In the comments beneath a TikTok interview with Lucy, one viewer exclaimed: “Can’t believe how different her accent is.” Another remarked: “I know she sounds different.”

A third then added: “Yeah I didn’t expect that ngl.”

Whilst Lucy is renowned for her portrayal of Chas on Emmerdale, it emerges she nearly landed a different Dingle role. “I’d auditioned for a couple of parts before – one was a trucker and one was Charity. I got down to the final three for that,” Lucy revealed to Inside Soap.

“I knew James Hooton [who plays Sam Dingle] from drama classes and he said to me, ‘Apparently you did something weird with your head in the audition and that put them off!’, so I was like, ‘Oh god!’.”

However, it seems her unusual audition didn’t deter them entirely. She shared: “Then he [James] called me and said there was a rumour they were bringing in another Dingle woman; they wanted her to be a bit like Charity but they were thinking about my audition and writing it around that. So I knew Chas would be strong and feisty.”