Emmerdale’s Marlon ‘stunned and in disbelief’ by death after setting out to murder

When pushed to the limit, what is Marlon Dingle capable of? (Picture: ITV)

Since Ray Walters (Joe Absolom)’s body was first glimpsed in the back of a van in Emmerdale, viewers have been desperate to know who killed him. The show has given us plenty of suspects and lots of clues, with it seems almost everyone keeping secrets, acting guilty and making or receiving mysterious phone calls. 

One of those who had more motive than most to kill Ray was Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock). For weeks he’s been living with the knowledge that Ray and Celia (Jaye Griffiths) forced their daughter into dealing drugs, and put her in a situation where she was expected to sleep with sleazy men for money – a situation which led to a terrified April (Amelia Flanagan) believing she’d killed one of these men after he tried to rape her. 

In a special week of episodes, one episode focuses on Marlon’s role in the events that led up to Ray’s death.

We see the usually mild-mannered chef heading out with a knife, fully prepared to do whatever needs to be done to get rid of Ray for good.  

‘There comes a point where he can no longer see where to go, and it leads into very desperate measures,’ Mark Charnock reflected.  

‘I think he has lost all hope, he’s got to the point where only the worst kind of thing he could possibly do, like murder, is the only answer. He’s tried everything else.

‘There are no options left to him. He’s just hit one way street, after one way street. He can’t even reverse out of it anymore. And he just needs to smash through the wall, he feels he has to resort to the worst thing any person can.’ 

At this point, Marlon truly believes that Ray has April and he can see no other way to end his daughter’s torment – and the torment the whole family has been through.  

We currently don’t know who killed Ray (Picture: ITV)

‘All he can see is ending Ray,’ Mark stated. ‘He can’t see any other option but killing him. And that’s mixed in with just the logic of it, if I get rid of him, maybe he’ll stop. But also, the rage he feels of what this man has forced upon his daughter. 

But as Marlon heads to the farm to find Ray, he’s not the only one pushed to the limit in the same episode. Paddy (Dominic Brunt) is horrified after Ray delivers the news that Bear (Joshua Richards) is dead, but Ray warns him to stay away or Dylan (Fred Kettle) will once again pay the price. 

And as well as Paddy and Marlon, who are both pushed to their limits, Ross Barton (Mike Parr) is also prowling around – and he has a gun. Ross has rushed to protect April previously and we saw him and April apparently making some kind of pact of silence together. Could Ross be the killer? 

Marlon has desperately tried to protect his family from Celia and Ray (Picture: ITV)

Mark Charnock was careful not to confirm or deny who the killer actually is ahead of the episode airing, but he told us about Marlon’s reaction to the news of Ray’s death. 

‘He’s stunned. He doesn’t have any human empathy towards Ray but I think his reaction is one of, initially, disbelief. It can’t be true. He can’t be gone, because this man has lorded it over us in every single way somebody can, for so long. So I think it’s disbelief more than anything… 

‘Or could he just be covering?’ 

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