(Monday 16th – Tuesday 24th March 2020)
With their families as one now, Laurel reminds Archie to be careful with Arthur’s special boat in a bottle. Arthur is still grounded over his behaviour, prompting him to tell his mother that he hates her and that she’s a rubbish Mum. That night, Arthur hides the bottle in Archie’s bag and then smashes it, hoping the get the little boy in trouble. However, when he knows exactly where to find it the next morning, Laurel doesn’t buy his tale for a second. Jai begs him to tell the truth and apologise to his mother. Reluctantly, Arthur agrees. He takes responsibility for breaking the bottle and when pushed by Archie, accepts that he hurt him, even though it isn’t true.
Charity, Tracy and Rhona support Vanessa as she goes into surgery for her bowel cancer. The surgery is successful, although she will still need chemotherapy to make sure. There is the loveliest scene afterwards where Charity takes Vanessa down to the chemo suite to make her feel more comfortable with what is to come. The two women pledge their love and commitment to each other. It really is very sweet.
Sam is upset to discover that Samson pawned his mother wedding ring to go on a school trip. Vinny takes the blame and he and Mandy get thrown out, prompting Mandy to steal from the Free Marlon Dingle Campaign in order to get the ring back. When Vinny gets such a hard time for his crime, Samson can’t cope and confesses. Vinny then admits that he isn’t actually a Dingle and wanted to prove his commitment to the family. Mandy was in a relationship with his father and has been a mother to him since he was a baby. His Dad left and she has been his mother ever since. The family agree that his love and commitment to the family make his as much Dingle as anyone else.
Unfortunately, Brenda twigs that Mandy has robbed the charity fund and she is soon tackled by the police. The police also want to speak to Marlon, who goes into meltdown at cops knocking on his door. Well, you can understand it. His last police interaction had him wrongfully imprisoned for murder! He hides in his house until Paddy and Rhona can persuade him to open up and calm the situation down.
Paddy takes Marlon out for a drive with Eve and drags him out to car to get some air where he promptly starts having chest pains. Paddy rushes him to the hospital and in the chaos, he forgets about little Eve in the back of the car! Marlon is rushed into resus and Paddy waits anxiously for news. It’s only when Rhona shows up that Paddy suddenly remembers his daughter. By the time he goes to find her, she has already been rescued from the car by the police. She has been taken into the hospital and treated for being too cold. The car is registered to Chas, who has been called to the police station. Social services have been contacted. While Marlon is diagnosed as having had a minor heart attack, Eve is kept in overnight. Chas is furious with Paddy.
The next day, Marlon is finally ready to forgive and forget when it comes to his family. He spends the day with Rhona but things get awkward when she tries to kiss him and then runs off. They eventually talk things through and confirm that they don’t want to restart their relationship, they just needed comfort and got carried away.
Back at the pub, Paddy has to announce his mistake but everyone is a lot more forgiving than Chas. Finding Paddy at Grace’s grave, Lydia says all the right things and sends him back to Chas and Eve. Chas and Paddy make peace but privately, Chas vows never to let her daughter out of her sight again.
The next day is Eve, Harry and Theo’s christening. Chas is late as she takes Eve to help Aaron get dressed, refusing to leave her with Paddy. While they are all waiting, some of the men do Godfather impressions, leading Harriet to start the service with a rather amusing impression of her own! The service goes well but the party afterwards explodes into an argument between Chas and Paddy over his mistake. That night, Paddy leaves. He spends the night in his car. When he does eventually come back the next day, he has missed the meeting with Social Services. Chas is livid.
The other person who struggles with the Christening is Wendy, who despite herself, still misses her rapist son, Lee. She leaves the service and when she apologises to Victoria later for doing so, kind Victoria just gives her a big hug. It’s a lovely scene. Later that night, Victoria takes a huge step and spends the night with Luke but while they seem very close the next morning, Victoria admits to Amy that she felt like the whole thing was happening to someone else. She is honest with Luke who is horrified and wishes she had told him and he would have stopped, never wanting her to feel like that with him. While he is happy to go back to a non-physical relationship, Victoria decides she isn’t ready for any kind of relationship at all and ends things completely between them.
Nick (where did he even come from?) gives Andrea a camera and literally sets her up to record Kim confessing to ordering Graham death and threatening to take out a hit on her. Also on camera, Nick and Andrea kiss before she pulls away, feeling she is cheating on Jamie. Of course, it’s all a plot to get Andrea in a compromising position and Nick has been working for Kim all along. He gives her the footage to use against Andrea but it backfires as Andrea immediately goes to Jamie with what has happened. When Belle also mentions that Kim threatened her to keep away from him, he concludes that his mother will never change. He moves out and reunites with Andrea, the family moving in with Tracy and shutting Kim out of their lives. Not exactly what Kim planned!
While Dawn is excitedly preparing for Lucas’s arrival, this boring story between Will, Cain and this DI Malone guy is rumbling on. This week, poor Billy gets dragged in on getting rid of a car with Cain, only Cain decides to merely hide the car and use it as an insurance policy against Malone. I mean, I’m not really following it to be honest. I apologise. I know I’m a soap blogger but some stories are just too dull, especially when they make them so bloody complicated. The most interesting thing about this one is that the actor who plays the dodgy copper is married to Samantha Womack (RIP Ronnie Mitchell, gone too soon).
Another example of a boring story is this apparently comedic story of Liam and Leyla trying to get some alone time together. They get caught out at the gym, at his GP surgery, at her office, at her house… Oh, it goes on! And why? Because his daughter thinks he should be waiting for the woman who abandoned him to move to Australia? Come off it. Move this story on, Emmerdale, quickly and quietly. The idea of Eric and Brenda getting together is more interesting than this and only because the actors are a couple in real life!
Due to the Coronavirus, Emmerdale have had to suspend filming
This week, Emmerdale is on at 7pm Monday to Friday with a second episode at 8pm on Thursdays
The Soap Dish 