Serena Sugden (Casey Al-Shaqsy) has left Emmerdale, just weeks after her arrival.
The newcomer arrived on distant cousin Robert Sugden’s (Ryan Hawley) doorstep last month, and has proved to be quite an enigma ever since.
Up until this week, there wasn’t an awful lot that we knew about her. She claimed to have had brief interactions with murderous John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth), something which immediately raised a red flag with Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller).
She was also asking a number of questions about the crimes John committed, and the death of his victim Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter). Not only that, but Kev Barton (Chris Coghill) seemed to remember her from somewhere, and couldn’t quite put his finger on how they’d crossed paths.
She was insistent that they’d never met, and that he was mistaken, but he soon clocked that she was a police officer.
When Robert and Aaron discovered this, they quickly scrambled to cover a deep, dark secret. As viewers will remember, in January, Robert’s sister Vic (Isabel Hodgins) killed John.
She soon came to the realisation that – although his death was ruled as suicide – life in the village would never be the same again and left.
Serena was sure that her family were hiding something about Vic’s sudden disappearance, and decided to challenge Robert. He sheepishly denied everything, and instead raised his own questions about her relationship with John.
She finally opened up about how John had once saved her extension of the Sugden clan from financial ruin b cashing in his army pension early. Some of this cash was left over, and she wanted to give this to Nate’s ex-wife Tracy Robinson (Amy Walsh) for their daughter.
Serena was fairly certain that she knew the truth about John and Vic. Aaron remained distrustful of her, despite her insistence that she’d keep quiet, and in today’s episode wanted to prove that he was right.
Robert had been hit by a runaway farm trailer, with Serena conveniently in the area at the same time. This reminded Aaron of the countless times John would set up a dangerous incident, swoop in as the hero and then receive praise from the other villagers.
Aaron ranted to mum Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) about the developing situation and hoped she could get to the bottom of Serena’s motives. Bold as brass, she asked the newcomer outright what her intentions were.
She explained that she hadn’t intended on staying in Emmerdale, but bonding with Robert and Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) had convinced her to settle down. Chas then spotted the PIN number on her phone, snatched the device from her pocket, and found images of her with John from last year.
This was during the period he was on the run.
Robert, Aaron and Chas were reluctant to listen to her excuses and blatant lies that she hadn’t seen John in a number of years. They ordered her to leave, and she drove away from Emmerdale Farm.
Is this the last we’ve seen of Serena?
Read more:
- 5 Emmerdale spoilers for next week: Dr Caitlin Todd’s past victim revealed as Kev Barton gets blast from the past
- Emmerdale exit revealed for long-running character after over 20 years in popular role
- Emmerdale star teases “complex year” ahead for Charity Dingle after nightmare labour
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.
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