Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) and Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) have finally got married in Emmerdale – but the journey to get to that point wasn’t easy.
This week, Paddy’s dad Bear (Joshua Richards) discovered Mandy’s findom side hustle. He decided to pretend to be a client of hers and managed to expose Mandy’s secret in front of Chas (Lucy Pargeter), Paddy and Marlon (Mark Charnock).
Afterwards, Paddy really wasn’t sure if he wanted to marry his best friend.
In tonight’s episode, as Mandy and Vinny (Bradley Johnson) got ready at the salon, Bear and Paddy were at Tenants. Bear made his view clear time and time again – Mandy was a liar and because of that, Paddy shouldn’t marry her.
Of course, because Mandy and Paddy have known and loved each other for so long, throwing everything away wasn’t as simple as Bear was making out.
As Bear headed off to tell Mandy and Vinny the wedding was off, Marlon was with Paddy desperately trying to make him see that not marrying Mandy would be a huge mistake.
Once Bear broke the news, Mandy rushed over to find Paddy. She decided to explain absolutely everything and revealed she didn’t want to tell him about the debt problems, because she wanted to show that she can sort an issue out herself.
Hearing Mandy talk about wanting to prove herself and be successful shocked Paddy. He told her that everyone can see Mandy is kind, generous and independent – being successful doesn’t just mean having a lot of money.
Ultimately, it was the dishonesty surrounding the debt and findom profile that really bothered Paddy, rather than what Mandy was actually doing on the site. As time ticked by and they spoke about their past mistakes – including lying about a beef stew – the couple ended up back on the same page.
Thank goodness.
Both in agreement they were going to get married, Paddy and Mandy had a lot to do in a very short space of time.
Charles (Kevin Mathurin) told Mandy and Paddy they needed to do the ceremony quickly because he had a funeral to conduct at 2:30. Sounds simple enough, but this is a Dingle wedding don’t forget – straightforward isn’t in this family’s vocabulary.
As Mandy and Paddy’s family arrived, some were dressed in wedding outfits while others were dressed in work clothes. Eventually, Charles told Mandy and Paddy he needed to get started because if not, they were going to run out of time.
The problem? Vinny wasn’t there.
Mandy knew that if Vinny wasn’t there, he would be heartbroken. With one last idea in her mind, she left the church and shouted her son’s name.
Vinny was outside the café and amazingly, he heard her.
With the vows sorted, Charles threw everyone out.
At the pub, Paddy and Mandy had a moment together. Their wedding day was always going to be chaotic but in a soap surprise, it actually ended happily.
‘This time it’s forever’, Paddy said when Mandy reflected on the last time they tried to get married.
We can only hope so.
