ITV Emmerdale’s Chloe Harris star Jessie Elland announces new ‘surreal’ career move after soap exit

Emmerdale’s Chloe Harris star Jessie Elland has announced a new “surreal” career move.

The actress left the hit ITV soap back in December following a slew of dramatic storylines, which included a love triangle with Mackenzie Boyd and Charity Dingle, as well as her mystery father Damon turning out to be villain Harry, who was later shot dead by Charity in defence.

And now Jessie has announced her next project in an unexpected career move. Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the former soap star revealed that she had wrote a book, The Ladie Upstairs, and it was being published. Posting a screenshot of a press release announcing the exciting news, which also described the haunted house book as a “captivating dark debut”, Jessie penned: “I wrote a book and it’s going to be published!!!

“Ironically I can’t find the words to better articulate this news. My very first novel will be published by @baskervillejmp, in the UK & Commonwealth. This would absolutely not be possible without my amazing agent @ktgreenstreet and the entire team at @paperliterary.

“Life just continues to get more surreal; to have something you’ve dreamed about since you were six years old (swipe!) come to fruition is something beyond words. This one is a particularly special fig. #theladieupstairs #bookannouncement #thebookseller #baskerville #johnmurraypress.”

Jessie’s 18.3K followers and former co-stars were quick to celebrate the milestone. Daisy Campbell, who plays Amelia Spencer, wrote: “We are so proud of you jessie” with crying emojis, Eden Taylor-Draper, who plays Belle Dingle, put: “So proud of you” with star emojis while Lawrence Robb, who plays Mack, added: “You’re incredible! Utterly incredible!!”

It comes as Jessie’s character, Chloe, made a shock soap exit on Boxing Day’s episode. Talking about her ITV soap exit and final scenes, Jessie, who had joined Emmerdale back in 2021, said: “I’ve had the best two years of my life playing Chloe and being a part of Emmerdale. Over those two years it never got any less surreal to walk through the stage door at studios or to be stood outside the Woolpack at the village.

“I feel so privileged to have been given this opportunity and to have been trusted with such wonderful storylines. I really got to tick off the soap bingo card; giving birth, discovering new family members, a big stunt, a soapy slap, and even a classic back of the taxi exit! All while working with, and learning from, incredibly talented people that I’d grown up watching on screen.

“I’m sure you’ve heard other cast members say that being in Emmerdale is like being part of a big family but it couldn’t be more true. The cast and crew of Emmerdale are some of the nicest people I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet, and they all made Emmerdale feel like a second home to me.

“What made my time at Emmerdale even more rewarding has been the reaction of the viewers to Chloe and her storylines. Meeting fans of the show and hearing how much it means to them is such a special experience and never fails to make me feel so proud and lucky to be even a small part of something so loved. I can’t say thank you enough for that.

“It’s really difficult to articulate how much Emmerdale means to me and it was by no means an easy decision to leave such a wonderful place and such wonderful people, I’m going to miss it so much, but I feel unbelievably lucky to be coming away with amazing memories and friends for life!”