Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) received an unwelcome knock on her door in today’s Emmerdale.
It was DS Reid (Angela Lonsdale), wanting to speak to her about ex-partner Dr Caitlin Todd (Caroline Harker).
As viewers know, vile Todd had blackmailed Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) for months. She’d discovered that, while Charity was trying to act as surrogate for her granddaughter Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill), she’d actually fallen pregnant with Ross Barton’s (Michael Parr) child.
Holding this information against Charity, Todd tried to syphon £100,000 out of her. She couldn’t muster up all of the cash, and hit the bottle to drown her sorrows.
After Charity passed out on the sofa, the doctor sexually assaulted her.
She immediately reported the incident, but Reid broke the bad news that there was insufficient evidence to charge Todd. Charity wondered whether the trauma of speaking up about her abuse was all for nothing, though after coming clean to husband Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb), she chose to also divulge the blackmail.
Reid warned that the two cases would be treated separately, but nonetheless, they’d still be investigated.
Vanessa was stunned when Reid said that a serious allegation had been made, and struggled to connect the Todd that she knew, and the one that the police were inquiring about.
She wondered whether this stemmed from the bullying that Jacob Sugden (Joe-Warren Plant) had experienced, though he had no idea. Sarah suggested that, from the officer’s wording, Todd must have committed a sexual assault.
For the first time ever, Charity leapt to Todd’s defence and urged them not to make such an accusation – clearly not wanting to expose the truth. Vanessa noticed that this was unusual, and later challenged her.
In emotional scenes, Charity revealed that she’d been raped and that the investigation concerned her report.
Now that Vanessa is privy to this information, will she seek her own revenge on Todd?
We know, from a flash-forward scene that aired earlier this month, that the surgeon will meet a grisly end.
For information and support, please visit Rape Crisis or The Survivors Trust.
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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