Mark Charnock reveals ‘very personal’ story behind directing debut as he joins GMB One Million Minutes campaign

Emmerdale star Mark Charnock has taken on a new role and has shared the personal story behind his directing debut.

Mark, who has played Marlon Dingle in Emmerdale since 1996, appeared on Good Morning Britain today (Tuesday, December 3) to discuss his directorial debut.

The actor has stepped behind the camera to direct a heart-tugging film entitled ‘Life Long Fans.’ The short film accompanies GMB’s 1 Million Minutes initiative, which aims to combat loneliness. The idea is for viewers to pledge their time to charities that tackle the issues of loneliness.

Mark said he was honoured to be asked and revealed that he also has a personal link to the project.

Emmerdale star Mark Charnock’s directing debut

The actor appeared on Good Morning Britain, where he spoke to Susanna Reid and Ed Balls about turning his hand to directing.

The project is in partnership with GMB’s 1 Million Minutes initiative. Mark’s accompanying emotional short features clips of two friends going to watch football together through the years. Once they reach old age, one of the friends passes away, while the other friend is shown at the football looking sad with an empty seat next to him.

That fan is left feeling isolated and lonely and no longer enjoys watching the football without his mate beside him. But the video ends on a hopeful note when the man’s wife arranges for his family to join him in watching the football.

Susanna and Ed described the film as ‘moving,’ while Mark admitted it was an ‘amazing experience.’

Mark Charnock’s personal link

The Marlon star revealed that when he was asked to come up with the story for the film, he had to rack his brains, but then inspiration came to him.

“Something so close to home, I almost missed it,” he said. He then shared his story, revealing: “I had two uncles, both of whom have passed away now. John and Michael. They were quite close in age and were like twins really. They did everything together and been going and watching Man United since the late 50s and all through the decades…

“Then quite out of the blue, the older brother passed away. And it broke my other uncle in half really. He lost half of himself. You know, he was OK, the years went by until he passed away, but those last 10/15 years he had without him, he was never really the same.”

He added: “Football gets a bad rap, but at its heart it’s a working class sport that brought people together.”

Read more: Christmas teaser from Emmerdale has left fans terrified

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs weekdays at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm on ITV3. 

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