The family of Amelia Flanagan have been celebrating the fact the star has now been part of the Emmerdale cast for 12 years.

The actress, who is 17, has been playing the role of April Windsor since 2014.

April is the daughter of Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth), who died in 2014 when she jumped off the side of a building with a criminal handcuffed to her.

She may be a youngster, but April has faced her fair share of drama growing up in the neighbourhood. A few years ago, she began receiving hurtful messages online, which turned out to be from Cathy Hope (Gabrielle Dowling), the half-sister of April’s mum.

The character also played a key part in Marlon’s stroke storyline. When April entered Smithy Cottage, she was the first person to find Marlon on the floor after collapsing. She called an ambulance and was determined to help her dad recover.

Around the time of Ross Barton’s (Michael Parr) return in 2024, April learnt the truth about how her mum died and struggled with the fact Marlon kept it from her. As their relationship broke down, April felt as though her family didn’t want her around. On Christmas Day, Marlon discovered she had disappeared.

Over the two months, Marlon and his loved ones went on a desperate search for April. In February, a flashback episode aired that allowed us to learn about April’s life as a homeless young person. She slept on the streets, watched her friend get stabbed, and gave birth to a stillborn baby in the toilets of a gym.

The fact Amelia is 17 and has achieved so much already in her life incredible. As she continues to enjoy life at Emmerdale, her family recently took a moment to celebrate the fact she’s now played April for 12 years.

Taking to Instagram, the Flanagan account shared a variety of pictures from Amelia’s time at the ITV soap. The first one is of a very young Amelia beside Michael Parr, with the rest highlighting snippets of what memories have been created in soapland so far.

In the comments section, Mike shared the love for Amelia and wrote: ‘Since all my troubles began!!!  youve smashed it mate. Very proud of you. LOVE YOU X’,

Also praising the star for her acting talents, fan Becky said: ‘And what a fantastic actress she is. No doubt you’re proud of all of your kids especially as they are each in emmerdale and coronation street.what a talented bunch they are.’

Another Emmerdale viewer wrote: ‘Amazing actor, just when you think she can’t get any better she does xxx’.

2025 in Emmerdale saw Amelia’s character April lured into the dangerous world of drug dealing.

After discovering boyfriend Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) was dealing for a man called Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), April decided to help out.

Unbeknownst to them both, Ray had a plan to ensure they’d work for him for months on end. The story itself introduced us to Ray’s mum Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths), the leader of the entire operation.

In her attempt to clear her so-called debt, April was forced into sex work as well. She was utterly terrified about telling her family, but had no choice when Dylan explained to Marlon that his daughter was in trouble.

The plot came to a conclusion at the start of 2026, when Ray murdered Celia, and then Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) killed Ray.

April and her family are now trying to move forward after the horrific ordeal.