Pearl Ladderbanks (also Hartbourne) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Meg Johnson. She first appeared on the show during the episode airing on 30 July 2003. Pearl's storylines include defending her rapist son Frank Bernard Hartbourne (Rob Parry), being trapped in a fire during the Sugden house explosion, developing a gambling addiction, committing embezzlement in order to feed her gambling and faking Alzheimer's disease to prevent her addiction from being revealed. More recently, Pearl has appeared less, however still occasionally appears in some scenes and episodes at the vets, in the café or in the Woolpack. Johnson took an extended break from her role as Pearl during 2019, with Pearl last appearing on 18 July 2019. Pearl was off-screen until 13 January 2020, when it was revealed on-screen that Pearl had been away from the village on a caravan holiday. The character made a handful of guest appearances until the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom caused the character to stop appearing due to Johnson's age. Her last appearance aired on 30 March 2020.