Emmerdale spoilers follow.
After months of misery, Emmerdale has provided some fresh glimmers of hope that evil villains Celia Daniels and Ray Walters will face their comeuppance.
The mother and son duo have been wreaking havoc in the Dales, notably for April Windsor after coercing the teen and her boyfriend, Dylan Penders, into dealing drugs for them.
After dragging April deeper into their criminal underworld, she finally told her dad, Marlon Dingle, and stepmother, Rhona Goskirk, all about the trouble she had gotten herself into.
Marlon and Rhona planned to escape the village with their children to safety, but Celia and Ray threatened the family and were ahead of them every time they tried to get away.
April offered to work for Ray for as long as it took to pay off her debt, but desperate to get his daughter away from the gang, Marlon offered to take on the sum.
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With it seeming like there’s no way out for the tortured family, the ITV soap has offered a possible glimpse into how the duo will be brought down.
Tonight’s episode began with Marlon visiting Dylan in hospital. He was napping in a chair when a text from Rhona woke him. She told him Paddy Dingle and April were on their way over, and that he would need his rest for when she returned home.
He got back home to Rhona and told her the plan was that Dylan would hopefully be brought out of his coma that day.
Marlon and Rhona prayed that he would wake up and report Ray to the police so they wouldn’t need to raise the next eye-watering sum Ray has demanded to pay off April’s imagined debt.
Rhona’s mum, Mary, returned home asking about a hit and run that had happened in the village, unaware of how her family was implicated. As Rhona pointed out, the last thing they needed was her asking awkward questions.
ITV
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Mary, however, pressed Rhona and Marlon, who were “clamming up on her”, as she was surprised she was only finding out about the tragedy, and believed Rhona was hiding something from her.
Meanwhile, Ray arrived at the hospital, much to April’s surprise, to “see how our boy is doing”, saying that hopefully he would wake up so he could tell “everyone what they need to hear.”
Ray, April, and Paddy waited diligently to see if Dylan would wake up, and April asked to sit with him.
Marlon arrived at the hospital, shocked and visibly seething to see Ray there waiting, ready to intimidate Dylan into keeping his mouth shut.
Marlon confronted Ray, who was confident he wouldn’t get caught as “hit and runs happen every day” and the family would not report him.
ITV
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“If you go in that room, I will kick off,” threatened Marlon, but as things became heated, Paddy stepped in, unaware of what was going on.
Dylan, now awake, assured April that he would tell the police everything, as April begged him not to say anything.
The police arrived to question Dylan, who told them that he didn’t remember anything, with Ray smirking as he listened in, convinced he had won that round.
But in the closing moments of the episode, Marlon spoke to DS Carter about the danger his family is in, and she assured him that the police were working on it and that bringing Celia and Ray to justice would take time.
She told him that they’re not able to protect Marlon’s family 24/7, and, as April had refused to go against Ray and Celia, they were, as Marlon put it, on their own.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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