‘Are you kidding!?’ Emmerdale’s Emma Atkins firmly rules out plot twist theory

Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) has managed to keep a secret for nine months in Emmerdale – but how much longer is that going to last?

Last year, Charity had a one night stand with Ross Barton (Michael Parr) after an argument with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb).

At the same time, Charity had decided to become Sarah Sugden’s (Katie Hill) surrogate. The young woman isn’t able to carry a baby, but really wanted to become a mum. Charity, Sarah’s gran, decided to step forward and carry her and Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant) baby for them.

She then slept with Ross, and discovered her pregnancy shortly after. As Charity and her family celebrated the positive step for Sarah and Jacob, Ross smelt a rat and knew something was up.

Charity spent months in denial, adamant she absolutely wasn’t carrying her and Ross’ second child. She even got a DNA test, but created a fake document that stated Ross wasn’t the father to stop him from pestering her.

Given this is a soap, it’s incredibly surprising that Charity has managed to keep this secret hidden for so long. Everything will change next week though, as Charity goes into labour – but can she really let Sarah and Jacob bask in the wonder of becoming parents for the first time to a child that doesn’t even belong to them?

Star Emma Atkins recently explained to us how Charity is feeling ahead of the birth: ‘I think because it’s a one-way ticket now – there is absolutely no going back – she’s got this ability to compartmentalise and fully accept that this lie must stay so deeply buried, and therefore, she’s legitimising it all with her own self-belief of, “It’s a selfless act, what I’m doing. I’m giving this baby to my granddaughter because she doesn’t have the means biologically herself to do that”. I think that feeling of giving her something that she couldn’t have naturally is her way of legitimising what she’s done.

‘It’s full throttle now. It’s, “I will have this baby, and I will give it over to Sarah, and her and Jacob can bond with the baby, and it’s their baby”. It’s as simple as that.

‘And as much as Mack knows half the truth and Ross knows all of it, I think at this point in time she feels she can trust them both, because it’s not in their interests to throw any dynamite into the mix at the moment. I think she’s quite okay with the fact that they will keep it to themselves, certainly for now.’

While Charity seems adamant that she won’t have any connection to the baby, no-one really knows how Ross is going to react. A couple of days ago, amid an attempt to get revenge on Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), Charity pretended to go into labour. Ross found them both, and panicked a fair bit when he learnt that Charity was about to give birth.

Later, Charity warned Ross and told him that he needs to reign it in a bit when she actually goes into labour. While it’s possible that Ross might make Charity’s live even more stressful when their baby is born, Emma has confirmed there is no way these two residents could ever happily raise their new child together.

‘Oh, good God no! Are you kidding?’, she stated.

‘Ross is great in his own entity, and so is Charity, and I think the friction that they have is brilliant. It works because they could never be together, because of this love/hate.

‘A lot of the feedback has been that people like seeing them together in that squabbling way, but in terms of a couple, absolutely no way! But they do have a mutual respect for one another as well, which I think comes through when they write for the characters.’

Reflecting on the journey Charity has been on since she discovered her pregnancy, and how this compares to other chaotic storylines, Emma told us: ‘It is so hard. It’s like when someone asks your favourite song. With the journey that my character’s been on over the years, I could pluck out a thousand storylines that I’ve absolutely loved doing, because every day is a new day in my job.

‘I get the scripts, and there’s always that journey that she goes on. But I think having to carry the baby and tell so many lies, as an actor, having to juggle that level of being so naughty, it’s good to play. I like being a rebel in that way, but a rebel that often comes good.