Valerie Pitman

Valerie first appears when Howard Bellamy (Ian Kelsey) phones her, needing her to be a temporary receptionist at The Mill, whilst Mrs Tembe (Lorna Laidlaw) and Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson) are on holiday.[1] She agrees to this, and starts work four days later, offending both Mrs Tembe and Karen before they leave.[3] Valerie finds her distant relatives by Mill medical records; Trudy (Judy Flynn) and Ellie Benedict (Eleanor Wyld). Valerie meets them, wanting them to be part of her life.[4][5] However, after meeting them, she realises that they do not want to have a relationship with her.[5] Valerie returns in October 2015 and gets interested in Cooks Heaven and holds a party at Karen's house, inviting Mrs Tembe, Ruhma Carter (Bharti Patel), Emma Reid (Dido Miles), Niamh Donoghue (Jessica Regan) and Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins) but it is a disaster, as Karen burns herself and she accidentally cuts Mrs Tembe. A few episodes later, she announces her and Ashley's relationship is over, and he later storms into the surgery and starts shouting at Valerie.

Valerie asks Al to give her a checkup, as she has swollen throat glands. He insists there is nothing wrong, but she later sees a doctor, who refers her to someone else. Valerie has a biopsy done at the hospital and gets her results back, revealing that she has Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Valerie is left devastated but keeps her diagnosis a secret, with Mrs Tembe and Karen being suspicious. At a photoshoot, Valerie dresses as Marilyn Monroe but after Mrs Tembe informs her of the fact that she won't be working at The Mill for longer, she later breaks down telling everyone she has cancer. Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers) becomes angry at Al for not noticing what was wrong with Valerie. Mrs Tembe, Karen and the rest of the surgery support Valerie through her battle. Valerie later decides to sue Al Haskey (Ian Midlane) for malpractice, but the new practice manager Anthony Harker (Adam Astill) persuades her not to. During her cancer battle, she grows close to Ayesha and security guard Barry Biglow (David Perks). She agrees to marry him, thinking that she has not got much time to live, but on their wedding day, she learns that she is in remission, and she jilts Barry at the altar. When Mrs Tembe fires Valerie due to financial costs, she starts working for a recruitment agency; however, she is left unemployed after exposing their dodgy work ethics, leading to the company's downfall. Valerie is later rehired by The Mill. In March 2019, Grant Hill (Jack Ryder) is murdered, and Valerie is believed to have murdered him, being questioned by the police.[6] Later in the year, Valerie begins to sell paintings created by her cat, Geoffery.[7] When Geoffery dies, Valerie takes time from work, and later holds a funeral for him. After her colleagues poke fun at her, Jimmi suggests giving her therapy. She agrees, and recovers from the grief.

Valerie takes a DNA test to find out about her heritage and details about her health, where discovers that she is part Jewish. She later discovers that she carries the gene for pyruvate kinase deficiency, but Sid Vere (Ashley Rice) assures her that she is not at risk. In a bid to find out more about Judaism, she visits the local synagogue, where she meets David Klarfeld (Simon Schatzberger). Despite Valerie not being interested in the religion, she talks to David, who later invites her on a date at The Icon.

In June 2020, a viewer on an online interview asked if Valerie would get a love interest. Producer Peter Eryl Lloyd confirmed that Valerie would be set to have a relationship in upcoming scenes, and Moyle expressed her joy at the news, having not known about the romantic development prior to the livestream.[8]

The character of Valerie has been well received by both critics and fans, and is one of the popular characters in the series.[9] Due to the positive response of Valerie's cancer storyline and popularity amongst fans, the character became a regular from early 2016.[10] In 2016, Moyle was nominated for Best Female Dramatic Performance and Best Comedy Performance at the British Soap Awards, but lost out to Lacey Turner and Patti Clare who play Stacey Fowler and Mary Taylor respectively.[11] In 2019, Moyle won Best Comedy Performance at the British Soap Awards.[12] Later that year, she was nominated for Best Female Acting Performance at the RTS Midlands Awards.[13]

• Valerie Pitman at BBC Online