Emmerdale newcomer Twinnie-Lee Moore's sweet reaction to meeting the Dingles

Country music singer Twinnie on joining the ITV soap, meeting her idols and commuting between Nashville and Yorkshire

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. We’ve seen that more than ever with Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo.”

Her single Hypothetically is out now - and Twinnie was left in tears when she heard it played out on US radio last week. “It’s actually insane. I cried. So many people that were like 'Oh, I heard you on the highway'. That makes like all the hard work, the blood, sweat and tears worth it.”

In a new relationship, but not “official”, Twinnie says she’s working on happier music. “I’m on the other side of my Sad Girl era," she said. "We’re working on new stuff for next year called Happy Hour and I’m really trying to embody that feeling.”

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