Emily Atack to open up about 'very dark side' to her career

While making viewers at home laugh out loud with her skits, impressions and stand-up, behind the scenes, Emily Atack is preparing to open up about a 'very dark side' to her career.

The comedian is set to return for her third season of The Emily Atack Show on ITV2 this week, bringing back some of her best-loved characters and taking some celebrity guests along for the ride.

But as the new comedy series airs, Emily, 32, will be putting the finishing touches on her harrowing documentary that will explore her experience with online sexual harassment.

In the new season of her ITV show, Emily is coming well-equipped with her best impersonations from last season (expect plenty of Holly Willoughby and Gemma Collins), and some brand new ones hidden up her sleeve (keep an eye out for Adele and Olivia Colman).

"It’s literally all the women that I admire and have watched for years", Emily said.

While we're watching Emily get fake-married to Duncan James on our TV screens - dream come true, by the way - she'll be working on a hard-hitting BBC documentary about some of the more harrowing parts of her life.

"I think it’s so important to have this discussion right now in this moment. Especially when I’m doing things like comedy and talking about all the things I talk about," she said.

“My life is very heavily in the press. People are very interested in my life and I think, well, if that is the case, I need to use my platform to do other things."

After years of success in the limelight, Emily is ready to show that her life 'isn't all about the glitzy glamorous fun sides'.

In the past, the actor has given fans a little bit of insight into her experience with sexual harassment online.

In an exclusive interview with UNILAD, Emily was once asked how many sexually explicit messages she is sent, to which she replied: "I receive, on a daily basis... oh, I mean, it's hundreds, hundreds. I receive hundreds of messages."

She went on to reveal: "I worked out the other day, before 10am, I'd seen three penises that I hadn't asked to see," she said.

"If I'd walked out into the street to get a coffee and three men had flashed me on the way, I'd be in pieces, I'd be traumatised.

"But there is honestly something about when it is online, and I hate to admit this, I've become so used to it."

Over the past few months, Emily has been working on both TV projects at the same time - and the contrast has been pretty jarring.

“I kind of thought doing something like [the documentary] and then going to work in comedy afterwards would be quite a nice lightness, to give my life a bit of light and shade. But I actually found it really tough.  

“It’s hard to kind of put the emotional stuff into something like that and then pull yourself out of it. But I think I show that in the doc and how hard that is.” 

Despite it all, Emily says that she's 'comfortable enough' to give people a better insight into the struggles she's facing.

"I want to share it with people, I want to educate people, it’s just really, really important to me.” 

Emily's documentary is due to come out later on this year. But let's keep things light until then, shall we?

The Emily Atack Show starts on Tuesday 27 September at 10pm on ITV2