Emmerdale dropped a tantalising trailer at New Year revealing a freshly dug grave and a body being dropped into the river. We may now have the answer to the identity of at least one of the victims.
The ITV soap has been banging out some huge storylines of late, and one of the biggest of the year is set to culminate in a blood bath as one local resident gets shot for heinous historical actions that catch up with him.
While we’re sure no one wishes evil on anyone, there will no doubt be relief at the knowledge that the victim is…Anthony.
Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day) has been making viewers’ skin crawl as it unfolded that the sick father se.x.u.a.l.l.y abused Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) when she was just a teenager and has since been slowly tormenting her while living in her own home.
We learned that this was the horrifying and true reason Ruby packed Steph Miligan (Georgia Jay) off to boarding school, which ultimately destroyed their relationship – she was saving her from what she went through.
Ruby was so distraught by this realisation that it led her to take a secret DNA test to determine the identity of Steph’s father and the shocking results were later revealed.
While the results remain secret from Steph, things have been turbulent between her parents after Caleb Miligan (William Ash) found the DNA test. So, Steph is shocked to see her parents absolutely fine with each other and acting as if nothing has happened after a fraught few days.
Anthony, meanwhile, having slept off a hangover on Laurel Thomas’ (Charlotte Bellamy) sofa, is left to tutor Angelica King (Rebecca Bakes) unsupervised by an unwitting Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler).
Nicola chats casually about this arrangement in the café, but Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) overhears. Knowing what a monster he is, Chas can’t hold her tongue and she tells Nicola that Angel is not safe.
Never one for subtly, Nicola immediately bulldozes her way home and instructs Anthony to leave as he poses a threat to children.
Initially panicked, Anthony suddenly sees the red mist and he turns on Nicola. But before he can do her any damage Laurel arrives and whacks him over the head with a candlestick. He falls to the ground, unconscious.
He’s not d.e.a.d quite yet, though Laurel believes he is.
Elsewhere, Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) finds Chas emotional in the pub’s back room. With no idea why, his mind races to his secret tryst being uncovered. He pushes Chas to tell him what she knows and is left whiter than Kim’s horse Ice when he learns of the truth about Ruby.
This is where things start to unravel for dear, sweet grandfather Anthony.
Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) witnesses a strange interaction between Anthony and his daughter. Caleb pulls up and demands Anthony climb into his car. Steph is later perplexed when her beloved granddad doesn’t arrive for their meeting.
A gunshot is heard, and Anthony is found d.e.a.d.
It’s highly likely Anthony’s body is the one in the body bag from the flash forward because his m.u.r.d.e.r.e.r would no doubt want to cover that up.
But the killer hasn’t accounted for Anthony losing a tooth in the struggle, and it’s lying on the ground waiting to be discovered.
Who pulled the trigger, and are they about to be caught?
