Emmerdale veteran Isabel Hodgins has candidly pulled back the curtain on her journey into motherhood and shared a highly anticipated update regarding her eventual return to the ITV soap.
The 32-year-old actress, who has portrayed the iconic Victoria Sugden for two decades, recently stepped away from the Dales to welcome her first child. To facilitate her maternity leave, writers crafted a dramatic exit that saw Victoria and her young son, Henry, flee the country for a fresh start in Portugal.
Behind-the-Scenes Maternity Negotiations
Appearing on the parenting podcast You Don’t Know You’re Born—hosted by her Emmerdale co-star Danny Miller and Nigel Clucas (aka Wingman)—Isabel reflected on the moment she first broke the pregnancy news to show executives.
Determined not to “ruin” or disrupt any major upcoming storylines, Isabel was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating the production team was.
“It was very much at my discretion how much [time off] I wanted,” she revealed.
While she initially anticipated working well into the new year, producers managed to wrap up her final storylines ahead of schedule, meaning she finished filming before the festive period.
“It was mid-December,” Isabel recalled. “But in hindsight, they did me a favor. The drive from Manchester to Leeds was killing me a bit.”
The September Reality Check
Isabel officially welcomed her baby girl, Georgie Grace, in February. Now, as autumn approaches, the reality of balancing a high-profile acting career with family life is setting in. Isabel and her husband, Adam Whitehead—who works as a school teacher—are preparing for a massive lifestyle shift when they both return to work full-time.
“I will need to find a way to manage that,” Isabel admitted. “For 20 years, work has been my priority. Becoming a parent has completely flipped my way of thinking.”
When quizzed about her official return to the Emmerdale set, the actress confessed that concrete plans are still up in the air, though she has a clear target in mind.
“To be honest, I still don’t know when I’m going back,” she confessed. “In my ideal world, it would be September. And then it’s all systems go. That’s when it really starts with the juggling and potential mum guilt, and whatever.”
Why Victoria Fled the Village
Victoria’s sudden on-screen departure in February left fans reeling. The dramatic storyline saw her kill the villainous John Sugden in self-defense, only to be ruthlessly blackmailed by the returning Joe Tate.
With Joe using the crime to successfully squeeze the Sugden family out of their historic farmland, a traumatized Victoria packed her bags and headed to Portugal with Henry. However, in her final moments on screen, she gave a firm promise to her brother, Robert Sugden, that she would eventually return to reclaim her life in the village.
