Lisa Riley has been left feeling 'overwhelmed' as she prepares to celebrate a huge milestone with what she calls the 'best present'. The Emmerdale star has become the first ever cast member from the ITV soap to be awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours list 2026.
The actress, best known for playing Mandy Dingle in the long-running ITV soap, is being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to drama and to charity. The special honour could not have come at a better time, as she is also set to celebrate her 50th birthday in just a few weeks.
Opening up about her special milestones, the soap star appeared on Saturday's (June 13) episode of BBC Breakfast alongside hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt, as well as Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who is also being awarded an MBE.
Speaking live from her home in Leeds via video call, Lisa admitted: 'It's unbelievable, it's humbling and it's just amazing. I can't deny, I feel on top of the world and I just feel amazing.' Lisa, who is turning 50 on July 13, said: 'Four weeks today, the big 50. I keep saying, what better birthday present for my big 50 is to be on the King's birthday list.'
Lisa's mum, Cath, died from pancreatic cancer back in 2012, twelve years after she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Since then, the actress has used her platform to raise awareness and advocate for cancer charities. 'I'm so proud to be an ambassador for breast cancer now. The reason is I did lose my mum to cancer and I wanted to use my platform to kind of go, I get it, I understand,' she said.
She continued: 'In our industry we get asked every single day to be part of a charity but I wanted to be true to myself and be authentic and only work with charities that I feel sing from my own personal hymn sheet. I want to go out and talk about grief and how it affects family members and also my dad, my brothers, my nephew and my niece. I have been able to raise a lot of money and I'm proud of that.'
In a heartfelt moment, she added: 'I know my mum is up there in heaven shining down today saying, look, my little girl did it.' Lisa has been flooded with sweet support from not only her real life family but also her Emmerdale co-stars, leaving her feeling 'overwhelmed'.
She revealed: 'Yesterday my beloved Dingle family at Emmerdale - we have a Dingle WhatsApp group and I was able to share it with my work family and they were all gleaming with pride for me and they said it was well deserved after all these years.' The star continued: 'I don't drink anymore so I will be having my little mug of coffee to toast but it's so nice to have so many people around me. Just seeing the stuff online it's endless, I'm hearing from people I haven't heard from for years.' She added: 'It makes you feel so grateful. My heart feels so warm and that's the celebration that I'm celebrating. I'm overwhelmed, I really am.'
BBC Breakfast airs everyday from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer, and Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
