Pearl Ladderbanks (also Hartbourne) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Meg Johnson.

Pearl's storylines included defending her rapist son Frank Bernard Hartbourne (Rob Parry), being trapped in a fire during the Sugden house explosion, developing a gambling addiction, committing embezzlement in order to feed her gambling and faking Alzheimer's disease to prevent her addiction from being revealed.

Pearl arrived in the village and catches Len Reynolds (Peter Martin) and Jarvis Skelton (Richard Moore)'s attention.

However, their relationship is tested when Pearl's son Frank Bernard Hartbourne (Rob Parry), who she had claimed was a financial advisor, is released from prison after completing a sentence for rape.

When she begins working at Eric Pollard's (Chris Chittell) factory, Pearl makes friends with fellow seamstresses Del Dingle (Hayley Tamaddon) and Val Lambert (Charlie Hardwick).

Owen and his mother live in Hong Kong and put Pearl in a difficult position when he asks where his father is buried.

When Douglas Potts (Duncan Preston), Laurel Thomas' (Charlotte Bellamy) father, is grieving after the death of his grandson, Pearl supports him.

She receives large bills that need paying and resorts to stealing from Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) and Rhona and writes down what she owes in a book which Vanessa finds.

Meg Johnson, who had previously appeared in Brookside and Coronation Street, was cast in the role of Pearl Ladderbanks.

Martin explained: "When Pearl turns up on the scene, she's this glamorous older lady with designs on Len and to be honest with you, I think he's a bit frightened of her.

It's a long time since his wife died, and he's not used to female attention, so he just wants to run a mile and Len prefers Edna, despite her reputation as village battle-ax.

Her final appearance aired on 30 March 2020 in scenes that see Pearl express her independence by moving away to live in a caravan.

[4] That same year, following the character being killed off, Timms' colleague Laura-Jayne Tyler wrote "RIP, dear Pearl.

"[5] Tyler had previously joked in 2019 that Pearl was a "Style Icon", calling her "Elle Woods with a pension book".