ITV Emmerdale Sandra Flaherty actress Joanne…

ITV Emmerdale Sandra Flaherty actress Joanne Mitchell's famous hubby and son's health

Sandra Flaherty made her return to Emmerdale last week and was already causing drama.

The character, played by Joanne Mitchell, was up to no good as she reappeared in her daughter's life. Before that, she was last seen in the ITV soap last year when she reunited with her daughter at a caravan park in Wales as her alcohol addiction spiralled.

But the drinking led to her daughter, Liv, suffering a seizure and Sandra realized she was not fit to look after the youngster. She left the village but later returned and insisted she wanted to change and begged her daughter for help to get sober.

Manchester Evening News reported that while Sandra's return may not be welcome, Joanne's, who plays her, is. Before she took on the role in 2016, Sandra was actually played by two other actresses. In 2006 Christine Brennan played Sandra and when the character returned in 2008, Janet Bamford was cast in the role.

But when Joanne took over the role, it wasn't actually her first time in the Dales as she's actually played two other characters in the Leeds-based soap before taking on the role of Liv's troubled mum. She portrayed DS Karen Barnborough in 2003, before returning in 2009 as Susan Davies. She also played a midwife in-between in 2006,

Joanne has also appeared in Doctors, Bad Girls, Holby City, Casualty, Heartbeat, A Touch of Frost and the former Rochdale-based school drama Waterloo Road as Mrs Turner. And she's also appeared in a rival soap.

Sandra and her husband Dominic Brunt (Instagram)

The 50-year-old starred in Coronation Street in 2018. She played Marsha, the mother of Kayla Clifton, played by Mollie Winnard, and the ex-wife of twisted policeman Neil Clifton, played by Ben Cartwright, as part of the harrowing Bethany Platt grooming storyline.

But she is clearly enjoying being back in Emmerdale, recently sharing a beaming photo of herself alongside Isobel Steele, who plays on-screen daughter Liv, and Mandy Dingle actress Lisa Riley. "It’s an absolute dream working with these two queens @lisajaneriley @isobelsteelee," she penned before adding: "Contrary to what you’ll see our characters play out on screen #laughter #friendship #blessed @emmerdale @itv."

And over in the Dales, Joanne has a piece of home with her as her husband is a famous Emmerdale star. She is married to Dominic Brunt, who has starred in the soap as Paddy Kirk since 1997.

The Macclesfield-born actor, 51, met Joanne at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and got married in 2003. They share two children and in 2011 they co-founded Mitchell Brunt Films together.

Recently speaking about working together in the same soap, Joanne said: "I haven’t seen Dominic at the studios yet since I’ve been back this time,” Joanne explained. “It’s fun to be on the same show but I’ve not actually worked with him yet. We haven’t had any scenes together as our characters live separate lives in the village."

Over a decade ago the couple were terrified they were going to lose their son Danny when he needed urgent heart bypass surgery after being diagnosed with a heart condition at eight months old. Dominic told the Mirror in 2018, when his son was nine: "At the time it was horrific. You’re in the eye of the storm, it was horrible. You think you are going to lose your son.

"We had only just got to know him – he was eight months old, and we thought that was it. We discussed organ donation. It was brought up by a nurse because there was a mortality rate with the operation. We had to discuss it, but even before that we’d all agreed to be donors in the family – my sisters are nurses so it was how we were brought up." Thankfully, Danny pulled through and he even appeared with his dad on ITV's Big Star's Little Star.

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