Dolly Skilbeck (also Acaster) is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale. Dolly made her first on-screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 22 February 1977. The character was initially played by Katharine Barker, before Jean Rogers took over the role in 1980. She remained in the role until her departure from Emmerdale in 1991. Dolly is characterised as kind, generous and a homemaker. She is a "townie" from Darlington who arrives in Beckindale to work at the local pub, The Woolpack. Writers quickly developed a romance with Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne). He was a widower and had previously has two children that had died.

Writers shifted this tragic arc onto his relationship with Dolly as her pregnancies lead to further trauma. Dolly's first pregnancy ends in a still birth, her second a miscarriage but the third is successful and she gives birth to a son, Samuel Skilbeck (Benjamin Whitehead). Another storyline for Dolly features the revelation that she has an illegitimate child, Graham Lodsworth (Ross Kemp). Dolly and Matt live with Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier) at the farm and Dolly has aspirations of owning her own family home at Crossgill farm. When the property burns down, Dolly's dreams of a better life are ruined and she almost has an affair with Stephen Fuller (Gregory Floy). Dolly and Matt later divorce when Pyne left the series. Rogers remained part of the cast until 1991, when executive producer Stuart Doughty had decided axe the character. Dolly leaves the show alongside Sam to live in Norfolk.

Dolly was originally portrayed by actress Katharine Barker but the role was recast in 1980. While playing Dolly, Barker had lived in southern England but travelled to Yorkshire to film Emmerdale. She also had two sons and an actor husband who became ill. She decided to leave Emmerdale to alleviate the strain on her family commitments. Producers assessed that Matt had already suffered too much trauma over the deaths of his wife and two children. Matt was now happily married to Dolly and believed it would be better to recast Dolly than to have him suffer another tragedy.

Recasting characters was common practise in American shows but an unusual occurrence in a British soap opera. Jean Rogers' agent put her forward for the role but then the 1979 ITV strike occurred and delayed the casting process. Months after the strike, the agent informed Rogers about the part and she went to audition with around fifty other actresses. Of the audition process, Rogers stated that "we all must have looked like Katherine who played it before. Yeah and then I got the part." First Rogers made it onto the short list with five other actresses but her mother died from leukaemia before she won the role. Rogers later revealed that this made her casting a "bitter sweet" experience. She also had to move to Yorkshire and initially spent her working weekdays apart from her family. Rogers told Daniel Falconer from Female First that "I remember feeling so happy to be doing television drama again. The cast were very warm and welcoming."

Recasting the role did gain some disapproval from viewers and Rogers recalled "a lot of chatter" about it. To help facilitate the recast and have it appear more authentic on-screen, writers conjured up a way to temporarily write Dolly out of the series. They sent the character off for convalescence because she'd had a still birth. This meant that she would not be on-screen for a couple of months. However, the 1979 ITV strike ruined their plans as the network chose to rebroadcast old episodes. These episodes featured Barker's portrayal of Dolly and their intention of resting the character did not work. Rogers' first week on the show consisted of visiting sets and locations and her rehearsals for the part commenced the following week. The Emmerdale wardrobe team had offered to purchase new clothes for her. She refused because she believed that viewers would have a difficult time adjusting to a new face, so Dolly's attire should remain unchanged. With an agreement reached, Dolly's reintroduction saw her exiting a car having returned from the convalescent home in her original attire. Rogers regretted this decision and later requested clothing that fitted herself better, but the production team had removed the allocated budget.

Rogers recalled that Emmerdale producers were concerned about how she would portray Dolly. She believed it was an achievable acting challenge but they still gave her video tapes of Barker's portrayal to study. Rogers was approached by another producer at Yorkshire Television who advised her to play Dolly on her own terms. She realised that Emmerdale producers were pressurising her to copy Barker's portrayal of Dolly. Rogers noted that she could have copied Barker's mannerisms but any new storylines would have proved more difficult. Rogers explained that it would have been "far too convoluting" to continually interpret how Barker would have approached the scene. Thus, Rogers decided to make the role authentically her own and was confident on how to play Dolly after her first week on-set.

Matt and Dolly were quite serious, yes we were serious because we were very ordinary, but as a couple they had a lot of awful things happening to them, or possibly happening to them. I mean Dolly was kidnapped. [...] They lost babies, they went through a divorce. But people do manage to come through these things and I think a soap can give them that feeling of hope saying, "oh Dolly managed to overcome that". It is a sense of comfort.

Dolly is characterised as a kind and generous woman. She is a "townie" who arrives in Beckindale to escape unhappiness. She is portrayed as "bright and bubbly" which is in stark contrast to her "silent and placid" husband Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne). Despite their differences, they appreciate one another's personalities and initially make their marriage a success. Dolly is also a "cheerful and good humoured" person. Dolly is also played as a "homemaker" and she used her spare time to help Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) serve beer at The Woolpack pub. Rogers viewed Dolly as a "special sister" and felt protective of her. Dolly and Matt are a serious couple with stories to match. Rogers believed that people thought she was "boring" but she viewed her as a "generous person who needed a bit of protecting". Dolly would often be depicted washing dishes, waiting for Matt to return for his dinner and life of a farm. Rogers believed that it was "comfortable viewing" but reflected the reality of farming life. She went to farmers markets and discussed the realism of the characters with other actual farmers. In her later years she takes a job as Kim Tate's (Claire King) housekeeper and the two characters were completely different. Rogers branded Kim a "wonderful bitch part" she would have liked to play, buy playing a female like Dolly "was a responsibility".