EMILY ATACK SAYS RIVALS ROLE HAS CHANGED HER LIFE

Emily Atack has said playing Sarah Stratton in the Disney+ drama Rivals has changed her life and marked a turning point in her career. “It’s completely changed my life. I don’t even know how to describe it,” she said. The award-winning series centres on the competitive world of British television. Its setting places the story in the Cotswolds during the 1980s.

Atack’s television career spans nearly two decades, beginning with an acting role in the ITV crime drama Blue Murder. She rose to prominence in 2008 as Charlotte “Big Jugs” Hinchcliffe in the E4 teenage sitcom The Inbetweeners. Following typecasting and stereotyping associated with that breakthrough, she pursued work in reality television, comedy and presenting, including hosting I’m A Celebrity… Extra Camp. Reflecting on those opportunities, she said: “Different paths took me into different jobs and gave me some amazing opportunities in television, for which I’m incredibly grateful.”

Atack said returning to acting had remained her ambition throughout her other television work. She described the transition back as difficult, saying that the move does not always receive a welcome. “So to feel so embraced and welcomed back into acting has meant an enormous amount to me,” she said. She added: “It reminds me that this is where my heart is.”