Emmerdale Shocker: 00s Character Returns as Ghost in Spine-Chilling Mystery—Is the Past Haunting the Village?

Gail Loman (Rachael Gill-Davis) recently took the next step in her relationship with Ryan Stocks (James Moore) and moved in with him in Emmerdale. But, there’s a problem.

She thinks their home Tall Trees Cottage is haunted.

In tonight’s episode, Gail spoke to Lydia (Karen Blick) about how she thinks a former resident called Noreen Bell is roaming around the house.

Noreen was played by Jenny Tomasin and lived in the village for almost a year over 2005-2006. She wore a wig and fake eyebrows, and arrived as a pensioner who would regularly irritate Val Lambert.

The character died in 2006 during the King’s river development explosion. In her will, Noreen left Val all of her money, and gave her thimble collection to second cousin Gilbert Duff.

After Gail’s chat with Lydia, she went on to express her concerns to Ryan about living in the cottage. Aware of her genuine fear towards being watched by a ghost, Ryan told Gail that he would speak to Chas (Lucy Pargeter) about moving into the pub.

And she was thrilled.

Rachael’s character Gail made a brief visit to the village in 2019, and then returned as a permanent character last year.

She got back with Ryan and started working as Marlon’s (Mark Charnock) kitchen assistant in the pub. While Gail is chaotic and sometimes struggles to deal with her emotions, she has a kind heart and is often seen just trying to do the right thing.

‘I had kind of put it to bed, in a way’, Rachael told us in 2023.

‘I was doing another job and I got a text saying they wanted to meet me and I was like, “Oh my days – this is amazing!”. I was in it four years ago initially. I remember I called my mum up and she was in the hairdresser’s and I could just hear her screaming. She was just so happy.

‘Then four years later getting the call again, which was just amazing to be back. It’s such a great place to learn as well. I’ve learned so much from the professionals. It’s amazing.’