Emmerdale Nicola King star details real-life relationship with co-star away from ITV soap

Emmerdale's Nicola Wheeler has confessed that her relationship with co-star Nick Miles mirrors that of a real-life married couple, despite only playing spouses on the ITV soap.

Since 2001, Wheeler has portrayed Nicola King and recently discussed her character's latest plot twist involving her devious nephew Tom King (James Chase) on ITV's Lorraine.

The conversation soon shifted to her genuine rapport with Nick, who plays her on-screen partner Jimmy King. Lorraine Kelly remarked, "You two in Emmerdale have been married 10 years now, is it? " to which Nicola responded, "They must have been married about 14 years now."

Kelly observed, "In real life, you two are really good mates and you'd need to be because you share so much time together. You must have that shorthand where you almost finish each other sentences."

Nicola concurred, saying, "We do. We have that thing of whenever I'm learning any scenes at home, I can hear Nick when I'm learning it. So I know how he's going to play it, I know the pattern."

She continued, "I have the same thing with Charlotte [Bellamy], who plays Laurel. When you work with somebody that closely for so many years, you kind of know how they're going to play something.

"Sometimes I'm surprised but more often than not, it makes it easier because we know each others rhythms. It is a bit like being married in real life."

In the soap, Nicola recently made the tough choice to leave her family home with Jimmy in an effort to shield her children from abuser Tom, who is currently under scrutiny for his treatment of wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).

Despite Jimmy's belief in Tom's innocence, Nicola is fully aware of Tom's guilt, having witnessed his capabilities first hand when he tormented her son Carl Holliday (Charlie Joyce) over the location of his tablet, which contained vital evidence confirming his guilt.

Nicola has since returned to Victoria Cottage and is determined to remove Tom from their lives permanently.

Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 at 7.30pm and available to stream from 7am on ITVX