Vanessa Woodfield made a big return to Emmerdale just before Christmas and now things are really hotting up for the village's vet. The character, played by Michelle Hardwick, made her debut in the soap in 2012 when she was hired by Rhona Goskirk, an old friend from university, to work as a locum.
In her first eight years in the Dales Vanessa faced her fair share of trials and tribulations - from being tied up and held hostage by murderer Pierce Harris and being stabbed by arsonist Donny Cairn to having a son from a one-night stand and being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
In May 2020 Vanessa, and the actress who plays her, disappeared from screens after she discovered her girlfriend Charity Dingle was caught kissing another man. But in real life, Michelle was taking time off to welcome her first child.
