| Liv Flaherty | |||||||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Isobel Steele | ||||||||||
| Duration | 2016–2022 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 7434 25 February 2016 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 9506 28 October 2022 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Kate Oates | ||||||||||
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Liv Dingle (also Flaherty) is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Isobel Steele. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 25 February 2016. Liv was introduced as part of her half-brother Aaron Livesy's (Danny Miller) sex abuse storyline, which would see her realise that her father is a sex offender. Liv was initially characterised as a troublemaker, but her depth was explored following the decision to move in with Aaron. Steele has noted that similar aspects of her character are similar to herself, and appreciates that Emmerdale wrote her as a teenage with authority since she felt that this is rarely seen on television. Liv became the first asexual character to be featured in a soap opera, and Steele has been praised by viewers and critics for her role in the storyline. Asexual people felt that the character was an accurate portrayal of themselves and Steele has expressed her gratitude at being able to represent them on-screen.
As well as her asexuality, Liv's storylines have seen her become an alcoholic, be imprisoned for spiking Lisa Dingle's (Jane Cox) drink with ketamine, form relationships with Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) and Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson), be diagnosed with epilepsy, expose numerous criminals for their behaviour and be wrongly imprisoned for the murder of Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). Within months of her debut appearance, Steele was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer. She was then nominated for three further Newcomer awards, winning one at the TVTimes Awards. Steele has also been awarded two awards for Best Young Actor. Claire Lindsay of Metro labelled Steele "an Emmerdale stalwart in the making",[1] with Chloe Timms of Digital Spy stating that Liv has forged a meaningful place on the soap, accrediting this to Steele's "vulnerable performances" in her issue-led storylines.[2]
The character was killed-off on 19 October 2022 after being crushed by a caravan during a storm to celebrate Emmerdale's 50th anniversary.