New Emmerdale star: 'I've met Beyoncé and Dolly but it was the Dingles that left me star-struck'

Yorkshire musician Twinnie-Lee Moore is thrilled to join the cast of soap Emmerdale and act alongside childhood heroes like Cain actor Jeff Hordley - but she'll have to commute from Nashville to film her scenes

She has met A-listers Dolly Parton and Beyonce but new Emmerdale actress Twinnie-Lee Moore says it was the Dingle family that had her starstruck.

The 37-year-old joined the ITV soap this month as feisty boxing promoter Jade. And for Yorkshire lass Twinnie, meeting Cain and his relatives was a dream come true.

She says: “It’s an iconic show. I get to work with the guy who plays Cain, Jeff Hordley. It is mad to see them in real life. I’m like ‘I’ve been watching you since I was a kid’. I’ve always wanted to be in the show, being from Yorkshire, it’s such a cool thing.”

Soap fans will recognise Twinnie from Hollyoaks, where she played Porsche McQueen for a year from 2014.

But she is also a musician and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee – home to country music legend Dolly, 78.

She is commuting from the US to film her scenes and says: “I’m jet-lagged all the time. But when I got the job, I was like, ‘This is perfect’. It’s 40 minutes away from my mum, so I get to be home for a bit. It’s good that my accent hasn’t changed.”

And her character Jade is already ruffling feathers in the Dales with her no-nonsense attitude and ruthlessness. The actress says: “She’s been a lot of fun to play. I’ve never played a baddie.”

Twinnie’s new album, Something We Used To Say, which was out on November 8, came out of heartbreak after a split and uprooting to the US. But while there, she has encountered Beyonce and country star Chris Stapleton, as well as Dolly.

Twinnie says: “I only spent, like, five minutes with [Dolly], but she’s a busy woman and she still gave me the time of day.

“She asked me if I was a singer and I was like, ‘Yeah’. She said ‘Oh, I’ll have to listen to your stuff.’ I thought ‘I’m gonna die!’.”

The American music community has really taken her under its wing, Twinnie says, adding: “It’s been very soul-giving and very affirming to be, like, ‘Yeah, I am meant to be here, my music is good enough’.

“You can do music and you can do acting, and you don’t have to be just one thing.”