EMMERDALE star Paula Tilbrook, who played Betty Eagleton in the soap for 21 years, has died of natural causes at the age of 89.
She joined the soap as the sherry-swigging gossip in 1994 and left in 2015, returning for a brief cameo in the Christmas episode that same year.
Paula became one of the soap's biggest stars when she joined as the straight-talking northerner. Together with partner Seth Armstrong, played by Stan Richards, Betty often found herself at the centre of the show's most dramatic storylines in her role as the village gossip.
She was last mentioned on the soap in February this year when the character rang Laurel Thomas to tell her that her father-in-law, Sandy Thomas had died.
Read more on thesun.co.uk