Charity Dingle (Emma Aktins) has opened up about her blackmail and sexual assault in Emmerdale.
Her ordeal began earlier this year, when Dr Caitlin Todd (Caroline Harker) discovered that, while trying to act as surrogate for granddaughter Sarah (Katie Hill) and her husband Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant), Charity had actually fallen pregnant with Ross Barton’s (Michael Parr) child.
Initially, in exchange for her silence, she only asked for Charity to stop Jacob from pursuing his HR complaint against her.
The blackmail soon escalated to £10,000, and when Charity was unable to muster up the funds, Todd demanded £100k. She was desperate to get her hands on the money, even attempting to rob the Home Farm safe.
When this didn’t work, she stole £30,000 worth of products from Caleb Miligan’s (William Ash) warehouse.
Todd didn’t get the full amount, and came to the conclusion that she would never be bold enough to tell Sarah the truth. Charity thought that she’d made a breakthrough, though passed out drunk on the sofa and Todd sexually assaulted her.
While the incident was reported to the police, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Todd and she fled the area.
Since then, Charity has allowed her family to believe she was suffering with postnatal depression, though a chance meeting with Serena Sugden (Casey Al-Shaqsy) earlier this week made her realise that it was time to open to up to husband Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb).
In today’s episode, Charity professed her love for Mack, before admitting to a “drunken mistake” – sleeping with Ross.
He was stunned, and sat down on the sofa to try to process the information. Mack struggled to find the words to express his disgust, suddenly realising that this was why Charity tried to prevent his friendship with Ross.
She then said that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and there were a lot of other things that he didn’t know about. When Charity mentioned Jacob and Sarah’s names, Mack retreated backwards in disbelief.
Tears filled her eyes as she explained that she had no idea what had happened, and reached a point of no return as the young couple excitedly prepared for their baby’s arrival.
Mack asserted that she’d broken his heart, and that he would be the one who told Sarah. Rushing out into the street, he came face-to-face with Sarah, though couldn’t pluck up the courage to reveal all.
He then wanted to know who else knew about her predicament. Charity took a deep breath, before admitting that she’d been blackmailed for months, and that on the night of Sarah’s 21st birthday, she was raped.
Initially, Mack was hesitant to believe what she was telling him. However, after seeing the raw emotion that Charity was displaying, and given everything else she’d just admitted, this couldn’t be another lie.
He wanted to know who was responsible, and after she made him promise not to do anything stupid, uttered Dr Todd’s name.
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Charity detailed the incident, and Mack questioned what her next move would be. She said her only option would be to tell Sarah, and then go to the police. If she didn’t inform Sarah beforehand, it would open a can of worms and only make things a lot worse.
To her surprise, Mack said that it would be a lot to process for the family, and perhaps they should cross that bridge when they needed to. The most important thing would be to tell the police about the blackmail and fight back.
Now that this weight has been lifted, will Charity be brave enough to speak to the authorities?
For information and support, please visit Rape Crisis or The Survivors Trust.
Read more:
- 5 Emmerdale spoilers for next week: Flash-forward mystery, Robert Sugden confronts Kev, and Charity Dingle reports Dr Caitlin Todd blackmail
- Emmerdale confirms major village arrival as new Sugden joins cast and brings “unexpected storylines”
- 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 in early ITVX release
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.
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