Rita Brannigan

In Emmerdale Rita Brannigan was played by Emma Kearney in the ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale.

Character's background

Rita was first seen in late 2006 when she ran in to Marlon Dingle, Donna Windsor-Dingle, Paddy Kirk and Toni Daggert in a night club in Hotten. She recognised Marlon straight away but he couldn't place her, but Paddy remembered her. It turned out that they met before, much to annoyance of Paddy's love interest, Toni. Paddy spent time with Rita in the club but when he saw Toni get rejected, he left Rita and went home with Toni.

Rita wasn't seen again until Paddy went to an art class and when he saw Rita, he followed her. Much to Paddy's surprise, Rita stripped off and started posing. After the class, Paddy took Rita for a drink in the Woolpack. Rita gave Paddy her number by writing it on his hand but he foolishly didn't write it down and it got smudged, so he was unable to call her.

Eventually, Paddy went back to the art class and explained to Rita what happened with the number and she accepted it. They planned to meet but a prank from the Dingles caused Paddy to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, but Rita came to the rescue. Paddy and Rita finally went on a date but it nearly came to an abrupt end but Marlon's cab nearly hit Rita, only to be saved by Paddy.