Mysteries and secrets are the bedrock of soap and I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Which is why I am totally invested to an almost obsessive degree in the Ella Forster mystery.
Played by former Coronation Street icon Paula Lane, Ella’s arrival in the village seemed innocent enough.
She just so happened to meet Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) at a party and stand up for her against a sleazy businessman.
As things unfolded, she ended up shifting her life to the village, landing a job at the surgery and bagging a romance with dashing doc Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) into the bargain.
Innocent enough on paper.
However, as much as Emmerdale tried to sell this as a totally organic arrival, fans were already hunting for hints to her past, a dark secret or a hidden connection to another character from day one.
This is not just because Paula Lane is a coup of a casting and it would be odd for her not to come in with something meaty (although there IS an element of that), but because no-one arrives in Emmerdale without a secret or ulterior motive.
On this occasion, I am interested in what Ella is hiding – maybe that’s because I am 99% sure I have figured it out.
But the problem with it is the fact she has a secret in the first place is no shock – in fact, the biggest twist would be if she truly was just someone who fancied moving to the area and then settled in before her big storylines got underway.
Almost all new main character arrivals to Emmerdale over the last few years have had pre-existing relationships with characters, most of them hidden.
It’s quite normal and expected for characters to join relatives – newcomers such as Mary and Claudette make absolute sense as they are the mums of established show favourites.
It’s when we have someone who seems to be completely new that the ball game changes, and Emmerdale has been doing it a lot.
It used to be that a character suddenly being exposed as much more than they seemed was a huge shock – who can forget Tom Waterhouse actually being Joe Tate? I was trying to heave my jaw off the floor for days after that revelation.
With Ella, it’s looking more and more likely that she could be connected to departed serial killer Meena but, even if that transpires not to be the case, she is hiding a lot.
No social media, determination to keep a distance from committing to Liam, reacting oddly to his family photos, furtive visits to a care home resident we know nothing about, and fleeing a funeral are all pretty whopping signs.
This comes not long after Caleb was introduced as Cain’s brother but actually turned out to be the secret son of Frank Tate, who died way back in the 90s.
His plot was to bring down Kim Tate as revenge (something which fizzled out fairly quickly when she found out), but he wasn’t alone.
Nanny Nicky seemed too good to be true when he began a romance with Gabby at Home Farm.
But, omg he’s actually Caleb’s hidden son, he’s secretly got a boyfriend and he is using Gabby to get close to Kim. Who’d have thought it?
Another newcomer, Rose, has come in as Dawn’s daughter yet she’s already stirred a rivalry with Kim and there have been some hints that she knows Caleb.
What will follow is a secretive conversation with Ruby, potentially implying they have a prior connection.
Gangster Harry came onto the scene to terrorise Cain but the guy who we thought was a villain connected solely to this crime story just happened to be Chloe’s dad, who had been mentioned for years but was never seen.
Gangster Harry was much more connected to the village than we thought (Picture: ITV)
He was in the show several months before Chloe laid eyes on him and realised her dad was in the village. What are the chances?
Vanessa’s new love interest Suzy was a breath of fresh air and they were getting on like a house on fire. Until Leyla clocked her and looked troubled, leading to us discovering that they had a cocaine-taking, messy past together.
And Nicola’s horrific showdown with a group of girls which saw her being attacked was led by a spiteful girl called Naomi.
Nicola suffered from PTSD and was then stunned to see her tormentor in the village. This was (brace yourselves here) because she is the daughter of local vicar Charles.
It’s becoming quite a trend, and that’s before we look at newcomers who have dark pasts or secrets.
Tom King arrived back after last being seen as a child and spent months disassociating himself from his killer dad Carl, only to then reveal his true colours as a domestic abuser.
Amit Sharma showed up when Jai discovered he was his real dad but little did we know he’d already been in the village before we met him – killing Jai’s other dad Rishi, whose body had been found weeks before with the incident being put down to a tragic accident.
It’s not a problem attached solely to Emmerdale but it does feel like an over-reliance now on mystery characters, which means that viewers now don’t trust that anyone who arrives is what they claim to be.
Accepting immediately that a newcomer has a secret takes the edge off their past being revealed down the line, as we were expecting it.
Why can’t we have a brand new family with no prior connections? Or a fresh couple starting a new life? Perhaps newcomers brought in as new love interests or someone getting a job in one of the established businesses who isn’t plotting to bring down the boss over a long-held grudge?
That said, I am interested in where Ella’s story goes, it is one of my favourites among the bunch of contrived, and sometimes tenuous, links.
But, less is more. And if I am to care about the next one, I need to meet some characters who can be enjoyed face value first.
