Emmerdale boss Laura Shaw has teased some huge storylines hitting the village this Spring, including a heartbreaking diagnosis for one character and upcoming special episodes.
The ITV soap is currently tackling some huge plots – including Chas Dingle’s (Lucy Pargeter) battle with breast cancer and her son Aaron’s (Danny Miller) reluctance to tell his family that he has the BRCA2 gene mutation.
Meanwhile, Belle King (Eden Taylor-Draper)’s husband Tom (James Chase) has emotionally manipulated her for months.
As well as this, Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) is facing time behind bars after abducting her biological daughter Ivy, who was conceived when her ex-husband Gus Malcolms (Alan McKenna) used her frozen embryos with his new wife.
But what’s happening in the coming months? Here’s your first look!
Tom turns physical towards Belle
After their wedding night ended in tears, and following months of emotional abuse, a special episode will explore the public and private sides to Tom and Belle’s relationship.
‘The real life stories that we’ve been given access to and the information and time we’ve spent with charities like Refuge have shown how quickly these relationships can turn physical so that’s what we’ll see happen next with those two’ said Laura.
‘Through our storyline we’ve been trying to find new and innovative ways to tell this story and we have a bit of a special episode coming up where we kind of do what everyone seems to like and step away from our usual Emmerdale format and do things a little differently.
‘So it’s a dinner party mainly focusing on Belle and Tom, and Marlon (Mark Charnock) 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!’
She also said that the storyline will continue over the next few months, so could Tom’s downfall be sooner than we first imagined?
A spectacular stunt that leaves one resident’s life in jeopardy
Over the years we’ve seen The Woolpack explode and be struck by lightning, a villager crushed by a caravan, countless car accidents, a plane crash and a helicopter crash.
But in the next few weeks another stunt will shake things up in the dales.
Two big families will be united when a nasty accident leaves one resident fighting for their life.
‘Whether they live or die we’ll have to see’ added Laura.
‘Ripples and repercussions from that accident will be very long lasting and life changing for a number of our villagers.’
Wedding bells for Mandy and Paddy
Can you believe it’s been 25 years since Mandy (Lisa Riley) and Paddy Dingle (Dominic Brunt) were married in a fairytale wedding?
The couple have recently reunited and Laura says their next nuptials are currently being storylined.
‘Obviously their love story is brilliant, and it’s been nice to see a throwback to their original Cinderella and Prince Charming wedding.
‘There will be wedding bells for them in the not too distant future but I can’t really tell you anything more than that because it’s still being storylined.
‘It’s sure to be a lot of fun though.’
A horrific leukemia diagnosis
In recent months, Chas Dingle and her family have been heartbroken following her diagnosis with breast cancer.
The Emmerdale stalwart was diagnosed after Dr Liam Cavanagh (Johnny McPherson) found a lump when the two hooked up.
Since then she’s had life saving double mastectomy surgery, and has drawn parallels with her mum Faith’s (Sally Dexter) own battle.
However, further turmoil is upcoming for another family as they are told their child has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Laura explained: ‘AAL is one of the most common childhood leukaemias, with 650 children and young adults diagnosed with it in the UK each year.’
‘With this story we wanted to show the stress and strain it can put on a family – a long term illness like that.
‘What we’ll see is that the family roles are changed overnight and out of nowhere, and we’ll see how they are affected and the stress it puts on everyone around them.’
She added: ‘We’ll look at the financial pressure that can be put on a family with a long term condition like this. That’s a big story for us going forward.’
Rose returns to Will’s life
A new face is to arrive in coming weeks, and Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) will be keen to keep her a secret from wife Kim Tate (Claire King).
Describing Rose, who is played by soap legend Christine Tremarco, Laura said: ‘She is mysterious, boisterous and bolshy and quite a free spirit who loves to party.
‘What I can tell you is that she’s someone from Will’s past so she’s going to be hitting out screens soon and causing a real storm at Home Farm and with Kim Tate.
‘Christine brings with her a whole wealth of experience and talent and I can’t wait for you to see what she does when she hits the village.’
Matty and Amy’s wedding joy
Next week, Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson) and Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) are to wed in a ceremony at Home Farm.
But the plans haven’t gone without a hitch as pensioner Claudette Anderson (Flo Wilson) was strongly against their use of the village hall after learning that Matty was trans, asserting that ‘two women can’t get married’.
Wedding planner Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough) was quick to jump in and point out that they can, while Amy explained that Matty wasn’t a woman.
‘Regardless of what you may think or feel, we are what God made us,’ she cruelly said, before leaving the office.
‘I have to say that its probably one of the episodes that I’m most proud of’ Laura said of the couple’s big day.
‘It encapsulates everything that Emmerdale does best; the humour, drama and more importantly its full of heart and warmth and from my point of view it shows to anyone out there who’s watching, who may have gone through something that Matty has gone through as a young trans person, that there can be a happy ever after
‘Well – it might not be happy, this is Emmerdale!’
