Emmerdale’s Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) is fearless and feisty and never backs out of a fight, especially if she’s fighting for someone she loves.
But in festive episodes she’s up against an absolutely terrifying foe in the form of Chloe (Jessie Elland)’s dad – and she realises he could be connected with the fact that Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb) has gone missing.
Recently Emma teased the culmination of the long running storyline in explosive fashion, telling Metro.co.uk: ‘There’s basically a moment for Charity where she sees Chloe with a complete stranger that she’s never seen before and it sparks her curiosity immediately.
‘And she’s like, “Who’s the guy with Chloe?” and then she starts to say, “Hang on, Mackenzie’s not around. This feels wrong. This feels completely wrong.” And then that leads her to go on a mission to discover this awful truth of what’s going on with Mackenzie.’
What has happened is that Chloe’s dad has got Mackenzie tied up in a deserted warehouse. And we know he’s not a man to be messed with, because Chloe’s dad is Harry/Damon (Robert Beck) – the man who had Caleb (William Ash) brutally beaten up and who kidnapped Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and kept her bound and gagged in a car boot.
When Charity makes the connection that Chloe’s dad might have something to do with Mack’s disappearance, she enlists Chas’s help – and it’s Chas who realises just who they’re dealing with.
’Chas is like, “Oh my God. There’s Harry,”’ Emma said.
‘“The guy who kidnapped me.” Obviously, Charity was nowhere to be seen when that was going on. Then Charity’s head starts to spin, and she realises “Hang on, Mackenzie has been missing for a few days. This is not just a coincidence and if he’s kidnapped you, what’s he capable of?”’
Charity immediately decides to follow Harry, with Chas in tow.
‘So now Chas is having PTSD from her experience,’ Emma continued. ‘But obviously, Charity can’t do it alone and they end up at this disused warehouse and they follow the noise because at this point, the cars have been separated so they’re not there in time to know exactly where he is.
‘That’s where they go on this mission to try and locate Mackenzie and it’s revealed it’s not a particularly pleasant experience at all.’
Upon discovering what’s happened, Charity is in full Dingle mode, as Emma explained.
‘It’s sinful isn’t it when you’re a Dingle? Of course, they should call the police. I don’t know what it is with the Dingles, they think they can just sort everything out without any outside help and it goes into a horrible sort of situation.’
Despite Chas being perfectly aware how dangerous Harry can be, Emma revealed that Charity will do anything to ensure Mackenzie’s safety.
‘I think love is blind. She’s crazy about Mackenzie, and she’ll do anything to make sure he’s okay. And that’s where moral compass just goes out of the window, I guess.’
But would she kill for the man she loves?
‘I guess you’ll find out,’ Emma teased.
‘I don’t think it’s in her nature to kill anyone at all. But I think she potentially could and would, if that meant protecting people that she cares most about. I think it’s potentially in all of us, you know, that thing to defend. But who knows?’
It certainly could be possible, as a firearm is eventually pulled by evil Harry – as a gunshot rings out, who will fall to the ground and be left fighting for their life?
