You can’t keep a good baddie down. Emmerdale’s Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths) makes a shock return from the grave in a series of special episodes that will shed new light on the mysterious murder of her son, Ray Walters (Joe Absolom).
Now I know what you’re all thinking. Celia can’t return from the dead. She might be evil, but she’s not a vampire.
We all saw Ray stab her in the chest after years being forced to carry out unspeakable acts by his ruthless mum in the service of her drug dealing and people trafficking rings. That might be true. When a villain clearly carks it in front of us, we don’t expect them to randomly turn up all bright eyed and bushy-tailed – although to be fair, try telling that to Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough).
But the despicable Miss Daniels is set to make a shock comeback in an upcoming week of flashbacks, rewinding the clocks to the moment of Ray’s murder.
Each episode will offer different perspectives on the dramatic events that led to his death. Each day focuses on a different suspect, peeling back the layers of their fortnight-long ordeal and exposing their darkest secrets and murderous intent regarding the shocking chain of events that culminated in a life-or-death confrontation.
The first episode will focus on Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), who was enjoying a budding romance with Ray – until Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) showed her his true colours.
The last time we saw Laurel with Ray was when she was slamming her door in his face, disgusted to learn the full scale of his depravity and screaming that they were over. In the same episode that Emmerdale first revealed that Ray had been murdered, we saw Laurel alone, consumed with guilt, fiddling with the expensive bracelet that he’d bought her for Christmas.
Ray wanted nothing more than a new life with Laurel – and he’s not the kind of man to take no for an answer. Will this episode reveal something that links her to his death?
The second episode focuses on Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry).
As the wife of Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock), she’s the closest thing that April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) has to a mother. She was devastated to learn that the troubled teen had been forced into drug trafficking by Ray, placing her in a dangerous situation with a would-be attacker whom April seemingly killed in self-defence.
However, this was merely another lie from Ray to strengthen his hold over the poor girl. When Rhona and Marlon tried to free April from Ray’s clutches, the ice-cold crime lord extorted two thousand pounds a week from them in return for leaving April alone.
While our Rhona generally wouldn’t hurt a fly, she’s willing to make an exception to protect the people she loves.
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For example, the time she trapped her abusive husband Pierce Harris (Jonathan Wrather) and forced him to confess to the murder of her boyfriend Graham Foster – the very same Graham Foster who’s just been revealed to be alive and kicking in Corriedale. Will this special episode give us a big fat juicy clue that links Rhona to Ray’s murder…or Graham’s return?
The third episode moves to the perspective of Marlon. Everyone’s favourite delightfully geeky Dingle has been to hell and back since the day he found out April was trapped in Ray and Celia’s shadowy criminal underworld.
On the day Ray died, Marlon angrily confronted him and demanded to know what he’s done with April.
When Ray refused to answer, the red mist descended and Marlon leap on the remorseless drug baron, only to be thrown to the ground. Furious, Ray bellowed that Marlon’s little girl is gone and warned him to stay away – or he’s a dead man. Will this new episode reveal that Marlon got to Ray before Ray could get to him?
Thursday’s episode will the audience what really happened as we are transported back to the moment Celia died. We’ll see Ray’s murder suspects, before a montage of key plot points regarding the murder and the main suspects is shown.
Following Celia’s murder, Ray stands over her dead body in shock and anguish before pulling himself together. Grabbing a distinctive red sports bag, Ray. He finds himself drawn upstairs to Bear Wolf’s (Joshua Richards) Room. After grooming Bear into forced labour on Butler’s farm, Ray is quite rightly consumed with guilt over the death of his departed father figure.
Trying to regain control of his emotions, Ray prepares to dispose of the body of the mother he murdered, utterly broken by the ordeal.
Will Celia’s return reveal who murdered Ray?
