Amy Nuttall of Emmerdale, Downton Abbey and Mr Bates fame to release first single for heartbreaking reason

Amy Nuttall, 41, is best known for her roles in Emmerdale, Downton Abbey and most recently, Mr Bates vs The Post Office but this week she revealed she was making a slight career shift.

Taking to X/Twitter, Amy from Blackburn shared an image of herself in a music studio as she announced she would be releasing her first song next month and revealed the emotional reason behind why.

In the tweet, Amy wrote: "Some news(gulp). Since my beautiful mum passed away at the end of Oct, I decided I needed to do something that would help my grief move forward. My song #thankyoumother will be out on#march7th to raise awareness of ⁦@BrainTumourOrg⁩ written by #johnhurley. I love you mum"

Amy's mother, Elaine Nuttall, died aged 68 on October 30 last year of a brain tumour, after being diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma in July.

Elaine, who lived in Hoghton, Chorley at the time of her death, was herself an artist and actor, known to have performed in local stage productions across the Bolton area -including with her daughter Amy.

Amy was actually first introduced to the track 'Thank You Mother', written by Irish songwriter John Hurley, in her early twenties, when she was asked to perform it for TV presenter Gloria Hunniford. 

On recording the song so many years later, Amy told the Brain Tumour Charity: "Hearing the song after all these years planted the seed that I had to record it and it seemed like a good idea to focus my energy on raising awareness of the disease. 

“I feel very fortunate to be able to use my platform to do this and all proceeds will go to the wonderful charity, The Brain Tumour Charity. I hope others will find comfort from the beautiful words in this song.” 

Balckburn born Amy's first major TV role was as Chloe Atkinson in the ITV soap Emmerdale between 2000 and 2005. Then between 2011 and 2012, she played Ethel Parks in the popular BBC show Downton Abbey.

Her most recent role was as Lisa Castleton in Mr Bates vs The Post Office which aired in January but she has also appeard in shows such as Hotel Babylon, Death in Paradise, New Tricks and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?