Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale’s Charity Dingle faces her worst nightmare over the coming weeks, as Ross Barton continues to demand answers over her pregnancy news.
Fans have just witnessed the show’s latest bombshell plot twist, as Ross discovered that he could be the father of the baby that Charity is carrying for her granddaughter Sarah Sugden.
Charity made a surrogacy arrangement with Sarah a few weeks ago. Thursday’s episode (14 August) saw Charity, Sarah and their respective partners Mackenzie and Jacob gather at the fertility clinic to hear the news that the first embryo transfer was a success.
As everyone celebrated Charity’s pregnancy, a flashback revealed that the situation may be far more complicated than it first appeared. Charity recently gave into temptation with her old flame Ross again, leaving a question mark hanging over the paternity of the baby!
Michael Parr and Emma Atkins, who play Ross and Charity, are on hand to break down the huge new storyline…
ITV
Were these scenes fun to film?
Michael: “They were great! The relationship is so spiky and antagonistic between Ross and Charity, so it’s fun to do.”
Emma: “It’s absolutely brilliant to play, knowing that Charity is in such a mess now. This has created a huge element of conflict for her. As an actor, you can’t hope for a better storyline.
“I know the audience will just be like: ‘Oh my God, what will she do? Who can she tell?’ Because I think they all are going to immediately jump to the idea of: ‘Hang on then, it’s not Sarah and Jacob’s baby!’
“I think it is just a jaw dropping moment for those that have followed the storyline. It just ups the stakes with everything. Sarah’s just got this desperate need to be a mum. Charity’s so desperate to please Sarah in that, and she feels her vocation is being this vessel to carry this child. There’s so much at stake for them. The audience finding this out, is just an amazing moment. It’s a good soap moment – a gift.”
Ross doesn’t believe that Charity is telling him the truth, does he?
Michael: “No, he doesn’t believe her. Nobody should trust Charity – she’s a menace!
“I think he’s desperate to find out the answer, because having another child comes with such responsibility. It’s a lot of pressure on him, because he’s not doing so well with work right now and his living situation isn’t ideal as he’s always swapping and changing.
“Plus he’s just met his brother Lewis. There’s a lot going on for him in his head, so he just needs to get to the bottom of this, so he can get a good night’s sleep.”
Emma: “There’s just so many avenues now of dilemma. Charity is stuck in this hellhole of: ‘What do I do next? Who do I turn to?’ It’s cataclysmic holding in that kind of secret. Surely at some point she’s definitely going to implode?
“I think the audience enjoys witnessing that, don’t they? They like to witness someone holding a secret. Who is Charity going to tell? Who’s going to find out? When will Ross cotton on fully? There’s all of these things spinning through her mind.”
ITV
Will Ross continue to pressure Charity for the truth?
Michael: “Yes, Ross is like a dog with a bone. He’s not going to let this lie and won’t be fobbed off by Charity trying to baffle him with science!
“He knows Charity too well. He saw her face in the pub when everyone was excited and celebrating. Her expression said it all and he clocked it. He knows she either knows or she’s in doubt and he’s going to keep going until he gets the truth…”
Emma: “It’s brilliant. I’ve got some amazing scenes with Michelle [Hardwick, who plays Vanessa], amazing scenes with Mike, amazing scenes with Lawrence [Robb, who plays Mack], and of course, Katie Hill [who plays Sarah], who’s fantastic. They’re all brilliant to work with and so it gives me that element of chaos – and as an actor that is wonderful to play.”
There are more twists and turns to come, so are you enjoying playing it all?
Michael: “It’s been so much fun working with Emma. It’s always a joy as they write so well for Ross and Charity. I’m grateful to be back on the show.”
Emma: “I look forward to it because the storyline is written so brilliantly. The writing has been fantastic and we’re getting some brilliant directors in. It’s just a joy to come to work every day.”
ITV
Emma, what do you make of the recent twists we’ve seen over Charity reconnecting with both Vanessa and Ross?
Emma: “It has literally been like playing out a jigsaw puzzle, because all the parts are all over the place! I’m trying to keep on top of Charity’s lies! I think the episode with the flashback is going to shine a light on Charity’s foolishness. You kind of want to feel sorry for her, but she gets herself in these situations.
“She thought she had lost the baby after the fall in the woods. So she went out and got drunk, then took solace with Vanessa. She threw herself at Vanessa knowing they have this fantastic chemistry. That was brilliant to play. I love working with Michelle and I know that there’s so many people that loved that connection.
“Then within five minutes, having been rejected, she fell very drunkenly into the arms of an equally drunk Ross. It’s like: ‘Self sabotage, here I come!’
“I think Charity did it because she knew that she’d have to somehow then wake up and have to tell Sarah that she might have lost the baby from the fall, when she went for a walk in the woods. So I love all the different levels, the complexity of it all.”
Has it been an interesting story to tackle?
Emma: “At first I was thinking: ‘This is the most crazy idea of a woman potentially giving birth to her great granddaughter’. But actually, there’s so much in it that is believable, because Charity loves Sarah. Sarah’s been desperate to be a mum for so long and when she woke up to that awful news that she’d had a hysterectomy, Charity wanted to swoop in and save her.
“Even though at first she was against the idea of Sarah being a mum at all. After at first trying to fight off and dissuade Sarah, she suddenly turned around and said: ‘I’ll do it’. Anything to help Sarah.
“Also, I think the audience has brilliantly got behind it. I didn’t know how they would react, but it has been really positive feedback so far.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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