Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) finally had a meeting with a therapist in Monday (March 11)’s Emmerdale, as she sought help for the devastating mental health issues she’s been struggling with.
In violent scenes at Christmas Charity was forced to defend herself and husband Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) from evil thug Damon ‘Harry’ Harris (Robert beck), who’d kidnapped Mackenzie and kept him tied up in an abandoned warehouse for days. Charity tracked Mack down and in the ensuing struggle Charity shot Harry dead.
Despite the fact that this was ruled to be an accident and everyone told Charity she’d done the only thing she could and saved Mack’s life, she was unable to forgive herself. Since then she hasn’t slept and has had panic attacks, mood swings and constant anxiety. In a confused and distressed state she lashed out at Mack with a knife, badly wounding him.
But as she finally started to unpack her fragile mental state with therapist Una (Rekha John-Cheriyan), it was very quickly clear that the incidents over the last few months have only been what Una described as the ‘tipping point’ to Charity’s ‘stress bucket’ – which has been filling for almost her entire life.
Beginning by recalling an incident where her dad, Obadiah Dingle (Paul Copley), had got rid of her beloved pet dog because he was ‘ropy and wonky,’ Charity started opening up about her past.
She described how her mother had killed herself and Obadiah told Charity she’d died of cancer. then he threw Charity out of the house because she became pregnant at the age of 13 with her cousin Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley)’s baby. When baby Debbie (Charley Webb) was born, she was made to give her away.
‘I got her back in the end though,’ Charity smiled as she thought of Debbie. ‘So screw you, Daddy-o.’
Then she came to one of the most painful parts of her story, how she had to find a way to survive after being kicked out.
‘Child prostitute is the technical term,’ she said, stumbling over the words. ‘Try terrified, abused. An exploited kid. I was 13. My dad didn’t even come looking for me.’
Going on to describe how she had another baby a year or so later, Charity again smiled as she thought about Ryan (James Moore), but then had to think about his father, Mark Bails (Rocky Marshall, ‘this twisted sicko’ who said he would get her off the streets. ‘He lied.’
Corrupt police officer Mark Bails ended up raping and abusing Charity for months when she was only 14. He was eventually sent to prison for his crimes and died while behind bars. When Charity heard about his death she was devastated because, as she told Cain, ‘He never regretted what he did to me, and now he gets to lay there.’
Una gently told her that when she heard Charity talk about her past she saw a survivor, but Charity still insisted on taking the blame for the bad things that had happened to her, telling Una that she sold her son, and the bad stuff she’d done in prison.
‘I’ve burned through more husbands and second chances than most people have had hot dinners,’ she sobbed. ‘And now I’ve killed someone.’
Although she was upset and disappointed that the therapy session hadn’t given her any answers or much comfort, at least it’s a start – but there’s a long road ahead before Charity can come to terms with everything that’s happened in her turbulent life.
