Valerie "Val" Pollard (also Lambert) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Charlie Hardwick.

Val returned in June 2012 and was surprised to learn that Eric had begun in a relationship with Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop).

Val was killed off on 6 August 2015 in the highly publicised "Summer Fate" storyline, which saw a helicopter crash into the village.

Upon her arrival, Val has a black eye, which she tells Diane is her ex-boyfriend, Eugene Brown's (John Axon) fault.

Always on the lookout for the next man to fund her lifestyle, Val is delighted to find her ex-brother-in-law, Rodney Blackstock (Patrick Mower) is living in Emmerdale and now a millionaire.

Val, never happy with just one man, cheats on Rodney with his much younger employee Danny Daggert (Cleveland Campbell).

Furious and rejected, Val goes to Italy to visit her son Paul (Matthew Bose) and his partner, Enzo Biannchi (Daniel D'Alessandro), returning for Diane's wedding to Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) with a man half her age but this is quickly revealed to be a lie.

Val's ex-boyfriend Jimmy Pepper (Michael Gunn) returns and he is horrified to find Paul, who he had raised as his own, not to be his.

In order to raise the money, Val starts embezzling at the pub under guise of robbery and is caught; Diane calls the police.

Val is sentenced to community service and is forced to help local pensioner Noreen Bell (Jenny Tomasin).

At first, Val hates Noreen but the two women become friends, joining forces to oppose Eric when he stands for council again.

When Noreen is killed in the Kings River Showhome explosion, she leaves her money to Val and she buys half the Woolpack.

Believing that Val is not returning after she empties their joint bank account, Eric starts dating Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop).

Val asks Eric's son, David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden), to help her and finds him in The Woolpack with Alicia Gallagher (Natalie Anderson).

When David refuses to help, Val turns nasty and starts attacking him and Eric but is stunned when Alicia punches her, bloodying her nose.

After being rude to Brenda when she offers her support, Val gets drunk and Jacob reveals that he was the culprit who posted her status online.

Val is later delighted when local delivery driver, Tiny Alcock (Tony Pritchard), takes a shine to her.

The next day, Tiny makes it clear he wants to sleep with her but she panics and tells him she is just popping out for some condoms, but she actually confides in Victoria.

The pair go outside, where a fight ensues and Val and Diane get involved as the police arrive and make things worst.

The following day, Val gives a heart-felt talk to The Woolpack regulars about living with HIV, which is praised throughout the pub.

In early 2015, Val catches a cough from her new friend Tracy Shankley (Amy Walsh) and later collapses from pneumonia.

After discovering that Darren is HIV positive, Val begins a secret vendetta against him, in the hope that he will eventually leave Finn alone.

Val dresses up as Bob's wife, Brenda, and signs contracts which give Carly the money to pay the shop's rent.

Val is furious to discover that she has no choice but to plead guilty at the court hearing over the fraud as the case is strongly against her.

When Diane finds out about Val's plan to fake her death, the sisters fall out and are forced to make up when Eric, Rodney and Douglas Potts (Duncan Preston) lock them inside the hall of mirrors at the village summer fair.

Unbeknownst to them, an explosion caused by Chrissie White (Louise Marwood) sends a helicopter crashing through the roof where Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) and Pete Barton's (Anthony Quinlan) wedding reception is taking place in the nearby village hall.

[2] Speaking of her casting, Hardwick told Gordon Barr of the Evening Chronicle "I've been a massive fan of Emmerdale since day one.

I've said this before, but I wrote a list of quintessential characteristics of Val on a post-it note when I first arrived at Emmerdale and I keep them in my script file.

"[3] It was reported that Hardwick would take a three-month break from the show to appear in a stage production called, The Awkward Squad set in the North East.

[4] Hardwick also confirmed on ITV's daytime program, This Morning that two different exit scenes had been filmed and she did not know which version would be eventually broadcast.