As you would expect from the most dramatic village in the Yorkshire Dales, the Christmas Day episode of Emmerdale is set to feature mystery, suspense, heartache – and a joyful reunion. Plus Christmas dinner at Wishing Well, where all is not entirely merry and bright among some of the Dingles.
As Christmas Day dawns there’s horror for Marlon (Mark Charnock). On Christmas Eve his daughter April (Amelia Flanagan), reeling from the discovery that Marlon kept the details of her mother Donna (Verity Rushworth)’s death from her, gets totally drunk, leading to a massive argument between them.
On Christmas morning he opens a present from her, a mug that he dropped after he had his stroke. April has repaired it and written on the bottom, ‘Things that are broken can always be mended.’ Touched by this gesture, Marlon heads up to his daughter’s room to make peace with her – and discovers that she’s missing.
‘There’s that moment that I can only imagine, that blank space where she’s supposed to be on that day of all days,’ Mark Charnock told us. ‘It’s not a building horror, it’s just like, instant full 10. There’s nothing right about that picture, her empty room on that day.’
Soon everyone in the village is out searching for the missing teenager. ‘It escalates, this storyline, so this is just the beginning,’ Mark warned.
Over at Home Farm things are not looking too good for Kim Tate (Claire King) and Will Taylor (Dean Andrews), either. A flash-forward reveals the normally pristine dwelling absolutely trashed by some kind of violent struggle, with the Christmas tree toppled over amid the general chaos. But there’s no sign of either Kim or Will.
We know that Will has been plotting against Kim with her financial advisor Peter (David Michaels) and a mystery third person. Will tried to call the whole plan off after having a change of heart – but could Peter have gone ahead with whatever they were planning anyway? Or has Kim somehow turned the tables yet again?
It’s not all doom and gloom in the village, and something really lovely happens as Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) is reunited with her beloved dog, Piper.
To the horror of viewers who’d taken the little dog to their hearts, evil Tom King (James Chase) ran the dog over in a sick move to hurt Belle. He then pretended the dog had died, while secretly giving her away to a couple. A distraught Belle even held a funeral for the little dog.
On Christmas Day Belle is sitting by her dad Zak (Steve Halliwell)’s grave. Vinny (Bradley Johnson) and Gabby (Rosie Bentham) have been trying to track Piper down, but Belle can hardly believe her eyes when she looks up and sees Piper running towards her wearing a red bow.
‘They just bring her back to me on Christmas morning,’ Eden Taylor-Draper said. ‘It was like, “This is the best day!” Especially with it being Christmas I think it was lovely and it felt like a real treat. For Belle it’s obviously huge.’
Elsewhere at the Dingles,’ Cain (Jeff Hordley) is still struggling with Zak’s d.e.a.t.h, as well as the guilty secret that he slept with Ruby (Beth Cordingly) while Moira (Natalie J Robb) was in surgery. We know that secrets tend to come spilling out at Christmas once people get stuck into the sherry and mince pies.
If this secret is revealed, will Moira ever be able to forgive her husband? And where will it leave Cain’s relationship with his brother Caleb (William Ash)?
