Jewish actress Gaynor Faye is to join the cast of Emmerdale.

The Leeds-born actress, 40, will appear in the long-running soap from the beginning of next year.

Ms Faye, who started in Coronation Street for four years, is also known for the series Fat Friends, which she wrote and acted in.

Her other credits include The Chase, written by her mother Kay Mellor, and a stint on the reality show Dancing on Ice, from which she emerged as the winner.

On Home Farm, the mother-of-two will play Megan Macey, an ambitious and glamorous newcomer who "immediately turns the heads of the other men in Emmerdale".

She said she was incredibly excited to join the soap. "Being a Yorkshire lass myself, filming in Leeds, my home town, is the icing on the cake."

She said her character would be "quite different" to most of her previous roles. "The women on Emmerdale are strong and feisty," she said. "I can't wait to play my character who's fun but extremely driven and will stop at nothing to get her own way."