Inside Emmerdale Nicola star’s private life from rarely-seen husband to major surgery
Nicola Wheeler's life away from Emmerdale couldn't be more different from her on-screen Dales alter-ego's
Inside Emmerdale Nicola star’s private life from rarely-seen husband to major surgery(Image: ITV)
Nicola Wheeler is an Emmerdale legend, playing Nicola King – but what do we know about her life away from the village?
Actress Nicola joined the ITV soap way back in 2001. And as the village busybody, Nicola quickly became a firm favourite with the show’s loyal legion of fans.
She has also played a part in a ton of big storylines. From her experience with physical and psychological trauma to her beloved romance with Jimmy King (Nick Miles), Nicola’s time in the Dales has not been short of drama.
Recently, her relationship with Jimmy has also gone through a rough patch, with Nicola attempting to put the spark back in their marriage.
Fortunately for actress Nicola though, her life away from Emmerdale couldn’t be more different from her on-screen Dales alter-ego’s…
Major surgery
She had major surgery a few years back
For a few months in 2022, Nicola’s health forced her to take some time off from filming Emmerdale. Appearing on This Morning, Nicola revealed that she’d undergone a hip replacement.
But before she went to hospital, Emmerdale bosses let her know she’d have to film some harrowing scenes upon her return as part of a gang attack storyline.
“They said ‘What we are going to do is we are going to bring you back and beat you up, is that okay?’,” Nicola joked. “I said ‘Fine, but I can’t throw myself on the floor’, so the stunt double did anything truly physical just because obviously I was still healing.”
During an interview with The Sun, she admitted that she’d been scared of filming the car scene after her op. “Bear in mind, I had only just had my hip replaced! I was fully healed, don’t worry, they didn’t drag me in early,” she said.
“I probably was miles away [from Matthew Wolfenden], but I kept thinking, ‘What if my foot slips, what if I do actually hit the back of his car?'” Luckily, it all went smoothly and nobody was hurt.”
Corrie role
Nicola previously appeared in Corrie
It’s not just Emmerdale that Nicola has appeared in. In 1999, she starred as Melanie Tindel in ITV soap Coronation Street. Melanie was introduced as an old school friend of Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) and was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Ashley (Steven Arnold).
She then ended up having an affair with Tom Ferguson (Tom Wisdom) for a month until Tom ended things.
Nicola later joined Emmerdale as Nicola Blackstock in 2001 and served for five years, before returning in 2007, making her one of the soap’s longest-standing actors.
Rarely-seen husband
She is a proud mum to one child
Nicola remains very private off-camera and not much is known about her marriage to a man called Matt. Matt is not seen attending events with his wife and it is not known about how the couple tied the knot or how they got together.
The couple announced they were having their first child together back in 2015, at which point she took six months of maternity leave from the show.
Nicola has spoken very briefly about her partner in the past. Praising Matt about childcare, she said: “I am really lucky that me and my partner are sharing the childcare.”
“But we have said that the hardest work is looking after the kid all day,” the actress said in an interview with OK! Magazine when her son was little.
Emmerdale airs Monday to Friday at 8:00pm on ITV1 and ITVX
