The two families who have been impacted the most by Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) reign over the Emmerdale village are Marlon Dingle’s (Mark Charnock) and Paddy Kirk’s (Dominic Brunt).

Marlon’s daughter April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) was manipulated into selling drugs for Celia and Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) for the majority of 2025.

She believed she had a debt to clear, and therefore was forced to accept jobs from Celia and Ray which included dealing, but also sex work.

April eventually confessed everything to Marlon and Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry). They tried their best to protect their children from the evil duo, but they went into the situation completely unaware of the lengths Celia and Ray would go to in order to ensure their operation didn’t fall apart.

A couple of doors down, Paddy was busy trying to find his dad Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards).

Amid this, and the fact that he was totally unaware of what his best mate was going through, Paddy had no idea Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) was working for Ray and Celia as well.

The lads have a plan

The fact Bear had fallen victim to Ray and Celia’s horror wasn’t revealed to Paddy until the start of 2026. Dylan explained everything to him, ultimately leading to the moment Bear returned from the farm and killed Ray.

Both Paddy and Marlon have worked incredibly hard to keep their loved ones safe and now, with Celia and Ray both dead, the spotlight is on them as the two pals attempt to process what they’ve been through.

At the start of the week, focus is on Paddy, who is dealing with the fact there’s a very real chance he’s going to go to prison for perverting the course of justice.

After a difficult situation at the vets, Paddy returns to his place of work and finds the bolt gun. He cannot help but recall the last time he was previously in an incredibly low place, which saw him take the bolt gun with the intention of ending his life.

Fortunately, Paddy suffers panic and runs out. He heads to Smithy Cottage and frantically bangs on the front door. When Marlon answers, he quickly pulls Paddy in for a hug.

‘Marlon knows the body language is terrible’, star Mark Charnock said.

‘He looks like a ghost of the person Marlon’s seen earlier, so he knows immediately that something is deeply amiss.’

As Paddy spirals about the upcoming court case, Marlon tries to help his friend and suddenly, he has an idea.

The duo head up the road and arrive outside Celia’s farmhouse with sledgehammers. Marlon and Paddy’s aim is to smash the place to bits, while unleashing their inner demons.

Although this is done primarily so Paddy can feel better, Mark has revealed that his character begins to bring all of his trauma to the surface as well.

‘There’s a moment in it when Marlon goes to another place’, he said.

‘Everything that he’s been through with April, all the trauma, everything that he’s he felt unable to do during April’s suffering and his family’s suffering, everything that he felt that he should have done at the time and didn’t, comes out in in this smashing up their kitchen table, which he sees as the sort of hub of their lives, where they would have had conversations about whose lives they were going to ruin next.

‘And he just loses control completely, and Paddy has to talk him down.’