Every so often Emmerdale likes to surprise us with an episode that’s a break from the usual format – and that’s the case with an upcoming episode involving what should be a nice, civilised dinner party with vet colleagues Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) and Tom King (James Chase) and their spouses Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper). And some of the actors involved have described what happens as ‘disgusting’ and ‘awful.’
Both couples have had a lot going on recently, of course. Viewers have seen tense scenes for Rhona as she faced a kidnap trial after taking baby Ivy away from the village.
To her relief she was eventually found not guilty, but that wasn’t the end of the story as she still had a battle on her hands for custody of the baby.
She goes to court to watch Gus (Alan McKenna) being sentenced for stealing her embryos and what she does in court ‘changes everything,’ according to Zoe Henry.
‘I’m like, ‘Hang on a minute, what she does in court, is that pre-meditated?’ she told us. ‘Actually what she does is tell the truth, and sometimes it just takes her by surprise, which is kind of what happens in that moment.’
So there are some tensions between Marlon and Rhona as a result of that, and as for the other couple at the dinner party, Tom and Belle, there’s been tension in their relationship since the very beginning as viewers have seen that Tom is insecure, controlling and abusive in his behaviour towards his wife.
Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw hinted at what we can expect from this episode.
‘It’s a dinner party mainly focusing on Belle and Tom, and Marlon and Rhona. We’ll see what goes on in their relationships but through the special way we’ve done it is that we’ll see behind closed doors. I’ll leave you to work out what that might be!’
Zoe revealed more about what we can expect.
‘The dinner party, Rhona’s disgraceful,’ she said. ‘All I will say is we get very drunk. You know that saying, “Sober man’s mind, drunken man’s tongue”? That one. It’s awful.’
Zoe’s co-star Mark Charnock added, ‘I’ve never done anything like that episode. It’s a very unusual structure, it was a fantastic day, couple of days.’
‘It was like filming a play,’ Zoe agreed. ‘Only eight characters, it was just great.’
Both of them agreed that their characters’ behaviour during this episode is ‘disgusting.’
‘We’re awful,’ Zoe confirmed.
But what sparks this bout of drunken behaviour?
‘Without giving anything away, something happens in the second bit of courtroom drama,’ Mark stated. ‘One of them may or may not overreact and take it the wrong way. I don’t want to say which one of them it is, but let’s just say it’s one of them.’
Zoe said the fallout from this could end up destroying Marlon and Rhona as a couple.
‘They’ve been through a lot already, but it’s not pretty. The fallout from the stuff in court is pretty shocking. It takes Rhona by surprise. It capsizes them as a couple.
‘That episode in particular, is a massive explosion point.’
