Beth Cordingly was faced with a problem after taking a break from filming Emmerdale.

The actress, who plays Ruby Fox-Milligan in the ITV soap, was forced to undergo a major image overhaul after her character enjoyed a trip to Bali.

However, in real life, she headed off on holiday to Butlins at Bognor Regis. With the weather being quite different in both places, Beth has had to take the plunge and apply fake tan for the first time in two decades before returning to work.

Sharing a video with her Instagram and Tik Tok followers, Beth wrote: “When your character went to Bali, but you went to Bognor!” She then added: “I haven’t used this for a long time… This could be a very bad idea.”

Beth then shared the process of her tan with her followers. Standing in just a towel, the TV star admitted she hadn’t used fake tan for 20 years and at that time she was helped by a make-up artist on set of her then-TV project, Funland.

She also said she has sensitive skin so wasn’t sure how it would react. Fortunately Beth later shared another video showing off the sun-kissed results and all had gone well. “Phew,” she wrote.

Fans wished her luck and then told her they “love it” when she unveiled the new look. Beth was also sporting much shorter hair and some of her followers commented: “Love the shorter hair”.

The actress is dating former Emmerdale star Ian Kelsey and has told previously revealed how supportive he is of her role and how he encouraged her to go for it. She has recently revealed he’s gone off to China for a new musical role playing Billy Flynn in Chicago.

Beth shared a video of her saying goodbye to him at the airport. As she kissed him and sent him on his way, he joked he had “overpacked” for the trip. Although Ruby is still on-screen in Emmerdale at the moment, the soap films around six weeks in advance so it’s likely that she will be off screen soon.

Beth is currently struggling with her guilt after mowing down Ethan Anderson. Ethan had been responsible for crashing a car that put her son Nicky Milligan in a coma and then fleeing the scene. Ruby wanted to teach him a lesson so knocked him down and made it very clear next time she would finish the job.

However, a few days later Ethan collapsed and died. His dad, Charles Anderson, is convinced the accident was the reason. They are still waiting for the results of the post-mortem to confirm the cause of death.