Inside the life of Emmerdale’s April star Amelia Flanagan – and her soap star siblings

Amelia is one of Emmerdale’s rising stars (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale star Amelia Flanagan has been winning huge praise for her recent portrayal of April Windsor. 

It’s been a whirlwind year for the ITV soap character, who firstly missing over Christmas, with a special episode later revealing the devastating events the teenager had been through over the previous six weeks. 

Before leaving the village, April had found out she was pregnant. Terrified about the consequences of this, on top of learning how her biological mother Donna died, caused her to take off and head to the centre of Leeds.

While on the streets, she witnessed a new friend get stabbed, before later giving birth to her stillborn baby in the toilet of a gym in devastating scenes. 

More recently she’s welcomed Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle), a lad who she met while living rough, back into her life.

We discovered that Dylan had been dealing drugs for a man called Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), but also really wanted to turn his life around. It’s been tricky for him, and not securing a small job in the village has meant he’s turned to Ray to earn money fast.

In scenes that aired this week, April became concerned when she saw him getting into a stranger’s car. She told dad Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) that when Dylan lived on the streets, he would partake in sex work for cash.

In reality, Dylan wasn’t doing this, but he was doing another job for Ray, and April was furious – especially since she was almost roped into the same line of work.

How old is April in Emmerdale?

April is the daughter of the late Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth) and her ex-husband Marlon. She is also stepdaughter to Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry).

April was born off-screen during Donna’s years away from the village between 2009 and 2014. 

April’s birthday is said to be 13 August 2009, making her 16 years old. 

April has appeared in Emmerdale since 2014 (Picture: ITV)

Who plays April in Emmerdale?

Actress Amelia Flanagan plays the role of April Windsor in Emmerdale. 

She has portrayed the character since she first appeared on-screen on 19 March 2014, when Donna made her return and informed Marlon she had been pregnant with April when she left the village. 

Amelia’s birthday is 6 June 2008, making her a year older than her character at 17. 

Amelia Flanagan has played the role of April since she was five (Picture: ITV) Amelia has won huge praise of her recent portrayal of April (Picture: ITV)

Amelia has previously won three awards in the space of a year at the Inside Soap Awards and The British Soap Awards, and following her recent performance, the young actress could soon be adding more gongs to her collection. 

Speaking of how she landed her dream role at the age of five, Amelia told OK!: ‘The director asked me if I could dress up as any character in the world, who would it be? I think everyone else said “a princess”, but I said “a banana” and I think that’s why I was chosen for the role.

‘Within six months April was wearing a banana costume in Emmerdale!’

Who are Amelia Flanagan’s siblings?

Amelia is the older sibling of Isabella and William Flanagan, who play Hope Dobbs and Joseph Brown in Coronation Street.

Isabella took over the role from twins Faith and Nicole Holt in August 2017, whilst her twin brother Will first appeared as Joseph, the then-estranged son of Chesney Winter-Brown (Sam Aston) in the following October.

At the 2022 Inside Soap Awards, both girls were nominated for the Best Young Performer accolade. Bella emerged victorious and took home the gong.

She revealed to Inside Soap magazine: ‘There are so many debates at home whenever there are awards ceremonies.

‘Me and my brother are team Corrie and my sister is obviously team Emmerdale, so it does get a bit heated sometimes.’

The trio live with their dad Chris, a TK Maxx store manager, and mum Rachel in Yorkshire.

This article was originally published on 12th March 2024.

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