Emmerdale Actress Natalie Ann Jamieson on Playing Amy Wyatt
Dramatic scenes in the fictional Yorkshire village of Emmerdale have had viewers glued to their screens
Natalie grew up in Walker in Newcastle and went to Benfield School – she was inspired to get into acting thanks to Live Youth Theatre. ‘It really did start the career of a lot of our local heroes in the acting world. I followed the same route as writer Lee Hall, for example, who also went to Benfield School. I was very inspired by the people that would come to our classes because they didn’t talk to us like the teachers did. They were cool and creative and rather than telling us what to do they showed us their craft and chatted to us. Live Theatre is great. They encourage young people so much and they gave me so many opportunities.’
Natalie made her television debut in an episode of ITV’s crime drama series Vera. ‘Filming in the North was brilliant,’ she says. ‘Working with Brenda [Blethyn] was obviously incredible. It’s so lovely when you work on jobs where you feel like you’ve got friends there. I was at a wedding in Dublin when I got the news and there was a self tape for the next day. Everybody was going to the Guinness Storehouse and I was gutted that I couldn’t go but I had to stay back and learn my audition. All I had was my phone in the Airbnb so I propped it up on a cereal box balanced on an ironing board, fudging together my audition. But I got it! It was well worth it. I still need to go to the Guinness Storehouse though.’
That same year Natalie was involved in the filming for I, Daniel Blake. ‘That was an incredible experience,’ she tells us. ‘My shot didn’t actually make it into the film but Ken Loach sent me a lovely letter explaining why and just the fact that I got to work with Ken – I loved that!’
In 2018, Natalie appeared in an episode of Doctors before auditioning for the part of Amy Wyatt in Emmerdale. She’d previously worked with fellow Northern actress Laura Norton (who portrays Amy's on-screen mum Kerry) when she performed in a play written by Laura.
‘When I first met my partner, his nan used to say to me “you don’t half look like (and sound like) that girl from Emmerdale” and she meant Chelsea [Halfpenny] who played Amy [Wyatt],’ Natalie says. Natalie then heard about a role coming up in Emmerdale. ‘When we figured out the [new] casting was for her, we were like “we’ve got to get this for Nanny Pat”. I guess it stands you in good stead if someone thinks you already look and sound a lot like the previous person who played her,’ she laughs. ‘I had a first round audition with loads of girls I knew from the North, then another, and another, and every time it whittled down we’d go for a little coffee afterwards. Eventually I was offered the role. Me and my partner were teaching in a nursery that evening. My agent called me to say I’d been offered the job and my partner was already sitting there in the circle with the kids about to do a class so it was half an hour before we could talk about it. That was surreal. We celebrated at the pub.’
Natalie made her debut as Amy in 2019, and received a nomination for Best Newcomer at the TV Choice Awards shortly after. But rather than heading straight for the Dales, her first scenes were shot in Belfast. ‘Walking down the street with the Emmerdale cast, genuinely you would’ve thought I was with The Beatles,’ Natalie laughs. ‘People were running after them; they love Emmerdale over there. It was a weird experience, I was kind of like what have I let myself in for! On screen, when they invest in a big episode like that they use extra special cameras, which means it was beautifully shot. That was an amazing experience.
‘The next episode was an International Women’s Day episode with an all-female cast. I felt so proud and it was so special to be a part of that straight away. That was a really early experience of being there and I’ll never, ever forget that. Since that, we’ve filmed a huge factory explosion, when Amy and Kerry set the factory on fire (accidentally, I may add) – as you do in soapland. That was amazing! It was set up for these massive stunts and when it “blew up” there were men attached to wires who just went flying off. I’d never been behind the scenes of something like that before. My heart was actually pounding. It was so real.’
Natalie reveals there are some big storylines coming up for Amy this year, and viewers have already seen one of them begin to unfold. ‘She decides she wants to have a family with Matty and they’re about to go on a journey together to figure out if they want a family together and how they can have a family (because Amy’s married to a trans man),’ Natalie explains. ‘But in typical soap fashion, will it go to plan? Will there be a happy ending? It’s a really good storyline. It’s just tough in soapland!’
In dramatic recent scenes, Amy, her mum Kerry and husband Matty were involved in one of Emmerdale’s biggest ever stunt plots – a double limo crash, leaving several lives in the balance. Kerry organised a girls' night after winning the use of a limo, and a second limo was organised for a group of Emmerdale’s popular male characters including Cain, Sam and Paddy Dingle. Chas, Liam, Charity, and Vanessa managed to escape, but Amy's fate hangs in the balance. The ice gave way beneath her and in the water she caught a glimpse of another body beneath the surface.
As for Natalie’s future, ‘we never know do we?,’ she says. ‘I’d love to dive back into some of the new writing that’s happening in the North.’
Is there another Northern actor you’d love to work with?
Jodie Comer, Sarah Lancashire and I never got to work with Charlie Hardwick originally… I think she’d be great to work with. And Chelsea [Halfpenny], obviously! There are loads.
Is there a show you’d love to star in?
I’d love to be in a sitcom. I just love them. I could watch reruns of Ab Fab forever I think. Something like that would be amazing. I’m trying to think about what would be the Northern equivalent. They’ve just brought out Smoggie Queens.
What’s your advice for budding actors?
You’ve just got to remember to have fun. I think sometimes we take ourselves a little bit too seriously. We’re creating art which sounds super serious but all actors are ever doing is just ‘playing’ something – doing a ‘play’ or ‘playing’ a role. It’s the play part of it that we sometimes forget about. You’ve got to remember to have fun because that’s where all the magic is. We can hit on really serious topics and be political, and all of that is really important but the magic is in the playing.
