Next week on Emmerdale, a plan to celebrate Ella’s birthday proves disastrous, Jai plays dirty to get one over Laurel, and Dawn is determined to track down Rose.
1) Mandy plans a surprise for Ella
Ella’s (Paula Lane) efforts to prove herself to the village look set to be in vain next week, as she lashes out following a particularly stressful birthday.
Ella had initially left the village after her real identity was exposed as Ruth Davies, who had been incarcerated at the age of 12 after killing childhood friend Joanna. She had only been released six years earlier, and after changing her name has been moving from place to place attempting to flee her past.
When Ella briefly returned to Tenants to collect the remainder of her belongings, she was caught by friend Mandy (Lisa Riley), who convinced her it was time to stop running.
Next week, Mandy discovers that it’s Ella’s 30th birthday the following day, and although Ella is clearly reluctant to celebrate, Mandy makes it her mission to mark the occasion.
Ella is surprised the next morning when Mandy begins the birthday celebrations, though she’s wary when Mandy offers her a full makeover in PampaManda complete with before and after photos.
Later, Ella is horrified when Rhona (Zoe Henry) shows her that the photos have been posted on the salon’s social media pages for the world to see. Not ideal for someone who is desperately trying to keep a low profile, having finally found some form of acceptance in Emmerdale.
Ella storms over to Mandy who is outside the cafe with Ella’s birthday cake. Taking out her frustrations, Ella grabs the cake and smashes it to the pavement.
As Mandy stands there in shock, Liam (Jonny McPherson) approaches, having witnessed the incident.
Ella retreats to the footbridge with Liam following, and he manages to talk Ella down, convincing her to accompany him to The Woolpack where her ‘surprise’ birthday party awaits her.
With residents rallying for the celebration, Ella is touched by the support and allows herself to relax, which is something of a new experience.
“I don’t think she’s ever played herself properly in that situation, to do ‘real life’,” Paula Lane told EverySoap at a press event last month. “I guess she has for a time, like when she was the PA, but she always talks about the fact that when people have found out, she’s had to pack everything up and go, so people don’t have enough time to get to know her properly. Whereas now, it’s all out there so there’s more at stake—there’s more to lose now.”
Ella is particularly moved when, despite her rocky past with Liam, he hands her a small star pendant as a birthday gift. For a time it seems as though she may finally be able to move on with her life…
2) Ella’s world comes crashing down
Ella’s soon brought back down to earth with a bump when an uninvited guest shows up at The Woolpack—Gary (Simon Naylor), the nephew and only surviving relative of Joanna’s late mother June Phillips (Tina Gray).
Ella and Gary had crossed paths previously as Ella attempted to covertly attend June’s funeral, having spent some time visiting her in a nursing home as she suffered with dementia. Outing her in front of then-boyfriend Liam, Gary called Ella scum as she fled the churchyard in tears.
The social media post no doubt having come to Gary’s attention, Ella is horrified when Gary enters, interrupting their song.
Seething, Gary presents Ella with a picture of Joanna as a stark reminder of the life she’s trying to put behind her.
“He outs her again in The Woolpack on her birthday,” Paula continues. “She was so reluctant to celebrate in the first place, but everyone was like ‘Oh no, come on, do it.’ So she’s put herself out there, she’s opened herself back up, and then he makes a return.
“I guess it’s like she feels exposed all the time. She’ll try and take a step forward and then she takes ten back because people come back from her past. She’s got so many skeletons in the closet.”
Terrified, Ella rushes out of the pub and Gary follows.
“There’s a big chase and it triggers something,” Paula explains. “I think it’s that kind of survival instinct. She’s still really rattled by it.”
Ella falls to the ground and it’s Wendy (Susan Cookson) who comes to her aid, ushering her into the safety of the surgery as Gary storms off.
But as Wendy attempts to soothe a shaken Ella’s nerves, Ella suddenly flips, attacking Wendy and trashing the waiting room!
“I don’t think she’s ever been as unhinged as what she is in that scene,” Paula adds. “But it’s whether you go, ‘Has she lost it, or is she doing it for different reasons, is she putting on a front?’”
3) Jai screws Laurel
Elsewhere in the village, Jai (Chris Bisson) pulls out all the stops as he starts playing dirty in his separation from Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy).
As the bickering exes butted heads whilst working together in The Hide, Caleb (Will Ash) advised Jai that he needed to be canny when it came to his divorce.
But Laurel has her own tricks up her sleeve, and Gabby (Rosie Bentham) is delighted next week when Laurel floats the idea of buying Jai’s shares in the business.
Later in the week, Jai is fuming when Gabby takes great pleasure in revealing Laurel as The Hide’s new investor.
Determined that Laurel isn’t going to get one over on him, Jai later drops a bombshell when the two meet with a mediator.
Laurel is outraged when Jai lies that he has had to sell both Tenants Cottage and Holdgate Farm in order to pay off debts, and with no money left over, he has nothing to offer Laurel in the divorce proceedings.
Even Jai begins to wonder if he’s gone too far as he ponders the situation with Caleb later on, but Caleb assures him that he doesn’t owe Laurel anything.
Will Jai continue down this ruthless path?
4) Will tries to cover his tracks
Up at Home Farm, the mystery of Rose’s (Christine Tremarco) disappearance rears its head again when Dawn (Olivia Bromley) announces that she’s going to call the police and report her mother as missing.
Viewers are still unaware of what happened to Rose after she was dumped by Will (Dean Andrews) and Kim (Claire King) on a country road, following the reveal of her plan to take down Kim.
The Home Farm estate pickup was seen returning to Rose a short time later, but we did not see who was driving.
Rose hasn’t been seen or heard of since, with PC Swirling finding her handbag abandoned on the side of the road, but Kim had curiously already come into possession of Rose’s phone.
Both Kim and Will were suspicious of each other as Kim jetted off to Dubai, and although they sent a message from Rose’s phone to Dawn explaining about her departure, Dawn clearly thinks there’s more to it.
Will is in a panic when Dawn reveals her plan to talk to the police, and there’s further concern as he repeatedly tries and fails to get hold of Kim in Dubai.
With the pair under strain before her departure, he’s beginning to fear that their marriage could be over.
Things are further complicated later in the week when there’s bad news about baby Evan, who is currently battling leukaemia.
Dawn is concerned as she tells Will that Evan could need a bone marrow transplant, and as a result she needs to get in touch with Rose in the hope of gathering as many blood relations as possible.
Will is aghast at the thought of the need for Rose to return, and when she sneakily retrieves Rose’s phone from its hiding place, he listens to the voicemail that Dawn has left.
With Kim still awol, and Will wracked with guilt, he begins to write another message from ‘Rose’ to send to Dawn…
5) Charity teases Vinny
Meanwhile, Vinny (Bradley Johnson) and Gabby (Rosie Bentham) are in a good place after taking the next step in their relationship by sleeping together.
For Vinny it was a particular milestone, still a virgin on account of late wife Liv (Isobel Steele) having been asexual.
Although it’s one barrier that Vinny now has out of the way, it doesn’t stop the odd comments from those aware of the situation.
Next week, Charity (Emma Atkins) guiltily wonders if she’s gone too far when she jokes about Vinny’s inexperience in the bedroom compared to Gabby.
All of Vinny’s insecurities come flooding back to him, but Gabby is soon able to put him at ease by going in for a full-on snog in the middle of The Woolpack.
Later, the two share a special moment as they push Gabby’s young son Thomas on the swings, and it seems that this fledgling relationship could just be the real thing!
6) Charity and Sarah’s joyride
Unnerving Vinny isn’t the only mischief Charity gets up to next week though, as she decides to treat granddaughter Sarah (Katie Hill) to a ‘proper Dingle experience’.
Sarah had recently come under fire after ending up worse for wear by drinking alcohol whilst on her medication, but it seems all is forgiven as Charity rushes Sarah out of the house and into a random sports car she has ‘acquired’ for a joyride.
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