The actor appeared on Lorraine as he discussed his silver jubilee and running a marathon in his wife’s name
Emmerdale star Tony Audenshaw joined Lorraine on Thursday (March 13) and shared he’s hoping for a “bit of lightness” as he prepares for his next marathon to raise money for pancreatic cancer.
Tony Audenshaw arrived in the Dales back in 2000 as Bob Hope and has been a long-standing cast member ever since. He was introduced as a hosiery salesman and a new love interest for Viv Windsor.
The couple married in 2001 but the pair didn’t last and Viv’s actress Deena Payne made the decision to leave the ITV soap in 2008. Since then, Bob has been embroiled in some heavy storylines including Brenda’s tumour, Gennie’s death and his affair with Laurel Thomas.
Appearing on Lorraine, he shared that he will be running the London Marathon in support of the event’s charity, Pancreatic Cancer UK. Tony’s wife Ruth was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late 2015 and when she died at the age of 43 in April 2017, she left a message asking him to run for the charity if he ever did the London Marathon again.
He previously shared: “She left all her friends and family a card to read after she died, and in it she said ‘if you run London again will you do it for pancreatic cancer?’ She also then added something like ‘no pressure, if you don’t fancy it don’t’ – which is very Ruth.”
The Emmerdale actor has ran the London Marathon an impressive 15 times, but this time the marathon takes place on what would have been the couple’s 24th wedding anniversary.
Whilst chatting to Lorraine Kelly, he shared that he would be “doing it in Ruth’s memory” and raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK is especially vital as he added: “We’re on the cusp of something… Looking at a breathe test that can detect cancer early”.
Tony revealed that many patients who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are usually found to be at stage four, meaning it’s often too late for life-changing treatment. However, with this new technology the cancer can be detected earlier in the lab and hopefully patients will be offered targeted treatment.
He continued to add that around £650,000 has been given to this project already, with the hopes that more will be added to the funding during the London marathon.
As Lorraine declared: “She would be really proud of you” she then mentioned that Tony is celebrating 25 years on Emmerdale, marking it his silver jubilee.
Tony reflected on his time in the Dales during the loss of his wife as he said: “The makeup department were fantastic. I remember coming down eight years ago and going back into work… That whole period is a bit of a blur”, before adding: “Having that structure of going into work and care for each other is a wonderful thing.”
The actor added: “I’m hoping for a bit of lightness” with his future storylines on the soap, but remarked that the last few weeks of Emmerdale have “been brilliant”. He continued: “I don’t get the scripts I’m not in, so I can watch it as a viewer. I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen” as he praised the limo crash scenes.