Emmerdale star confirms complex year ahead for Charity as baby secret explodes

Look who’s left holding the baby. (Picture: ITV)

What’s the longest secret ever kept in Emmerdale? Surely Charity Dingle must smash the record books by keeping her ‘Who’s the Daddy?’ surrogacy drama under wraps for nine months. But one way or another, that baby bombshell is finally going to explode…

It all started, believe it or not, with Charity doing a nice thing. Since her stepdaughter Sarah Sugden’s (Katie Hill), was unable to conceive herself due to health complications, Charity stepped forward and agreed to carry her and Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant) baby.

Then Charity went and messed it all up, in her trademark style, by getting into bed with the wrong bloke. After a blazing row with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb), she had bit of no-strings fun with the Dales resident bad boy Ross Barton (Michael Parr).

Cut to a few weeks later, when Charity discovers she’s pregnant. Hurrah! Everybody celebrates…

… well. Not everybody.

Sarah and Jacob badly wanted a child of their own. (Picture. ITV)

Ross immediately found something suspect about the timing of Charity’s little bundle of joy, and even started a fake bromance with Mackenzie in the hope of pumping the poor sap for info.

For months, Charity was putting out fires to stop her family from getting suspicious and to keep Ross at bay, even forging a fake DNA test results that stated Ross wasn’t the father to stop him from pestering her.

Even though Ross eventually found out the baby wasn’t his, he only know half the truth. He thinks the baby is Jacob and Sarah’s, clueless about his wife’s infidelity. Charity has kept her secret for a truly impressive amount of time. But that all changes next week, when she goes into the labour during Sarah’s baby shower and the cat comes out of the bag.

Will things ever be the same for Charity again? Actress Emma Atkins spills the tea on her character’s plan.

‘it’s full throttle now.’ Emma insists. ‘It’s, ‘I will have this baby, and I will give it over to Sarah, and her and Jacob can bond with the baby, and it’s their baby”. It’s as simple as that. And as much as Mack knows half the truth and Ross knows all of it, I think at this point in time she feels she can trust them both, because it’s not in their interests to throw any dynamite into the mix at the moment. I think she’s quite okay with the fact that they will keep it to themselves, certainly for now.’

If only Mack knew… and pretty soon he will. (Picture: Emmerdale)

However that’s not an option any more. Upcoming scenes of Emmerdale will see the most Devious Dingle tasked with getting the cake for Sarah’s baby shower at the very last minute… only to end up going into labour. And who should ride to her rescue?

‘Can anyone guess?’ Emma laughs. ‘It’s the baby daddy. It’s Ross. He drives up in his jeep and it’s mortification personified for Charity. She’s like, “Oh my God, as if things couldn’t get any worse…” Her waters have broken, and she’s sat on the back seat, really uncomfortable, can’t keep still, and then sees Mack flagging down this car. He says, “Oh, it’s Ross!”

It’s going to be a messy birth in more ways than one… (Picture: ITV)

But then things take a turn for the worse when Charity is admitted to hospital and begins haemorrhaging. Suddenly, her secret coming out pales into comparison when faced with the prospect of losing her life. But if Charity makes it through this, is the secret about to spill? Emma Atkins explains how life will be for charity after the birth.

‘I think she does understand that every day from now on will be the risk of them finding out, so she is going to be living on broken glass. That feeling that any day, somebody could say the wrong thing, especially Ross, so she’s got to keep people on side. It’s constantly keeping her head above the parapet. She knows what that’s like. She’s forever been embroiled in all sorts of trouble and tribulations. She’s a soldier with that. She’s a warrior. But, at the same time, I think she understands the gravity of that truth coming out and the implications and how that would haemorrhage everything in the Dingle clan. The trust will be utterly fractured forever.’

Whatever happens, there’s no going back for Charity. (Picture: ITV)

Talking of trust being fractured forever, Sarah clearly isn’t going to take this well. Charity doesn’t want to hurt her, but will the maternal pull be too strong? Will she be able to hand over that baby?

‘I actually don’t think she will.’ Emma admits. ‘I’ve yet to read the scripts, but I feel the sense that she’s just embodied being a vessel, and beyond that, she’s not remotely felt maternal. She’s not maternal at the best of moments with any of her children. She’s got fierce loyalty and love, but she lacks that real maternal feeling. So, I think it will be okay for her to hand the baby over, especially because she’s part of the family. It’s not like she’s going miles away. So, she’s got that connection anyway. She can’t in any way be maternal anyway because it could ruin a lot of things…’

If you’ve got a soap or TV story, video or pictures get in touch by emailing us [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.

Join the community by leaving a comment below and stay updated on all things soaps on our homepage.

Comments Add as preferred source