Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) faces every parent’s worst nightmare over the Christmas period in Emmerdale as he realises daughter April

Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) has disappeared.

April’s life changed earlier this month when she discovered how her mum Donna died. This revelation only came courtesy of Donna’s old love

interest Ross Barton (Michael Parr), who saved April after she was kidnapped by Jade and her gang.

April was found being held over the same building Donna jumped from. After learning the secret from Ross, the young girl confronted Marlon, but initially failed to mention anything about her kidnapping

‘For quite a while she’s been acting out of character’, actor Mark explained.

‘What it really means is she’s growing up and she’s got all sorts of issues. She’s discovered how Donna really died, which is huge for her. She never knew that Donna, her mother, had taken her own life.

‘Ross told her that information, much to Marlon’s twitchy annoyance, because obviously they’ve got history as well with the whole Donna triangle and things like that. So he’s checking her texts because she’s behaved outrageously to family members, she’s been really uncharacteristically rude and a little mean-spirited and just not her.

He added: ‘So he’s going through these texts and he begins to discover information that he had no idea about. She’s trying to get weed and stuff like that, which has shocked him a bit. Part of the problem is he’s this very protective parent. I don’t think he’s over-protective but he’s missed the bit where she’s not in cotton wool any more, he’s missed the jump that she’s made and that, coupled with the fact she’s found out about Donna, has just made it a bit more volcanic.’

During tonight’s episode, Marlon will find April drinking.

‘This disastrous Christmas Eve where she’s got absolutely annihilated, she has this terrible Christmas where she causes all sorts of issues and problems and they’re just not meeting on a level playing field’, Mark said.

‘The next morning he opens a present, April’s still in bed, and she’s got him this mug that he dropped not long after he had the stroke. The handle had come off and she stuck the handle back on. They turn it around and there’s a thing on the bottom of the mug that says “things that are broken can always be mended”.’

It’s after this emotional moment that Marlon heads upstairs to April’s bedroom. To his absolute horror, he realises his daughter has vanished.

‘There’s that moment that I can only imagine, that blank space where she’s supposed to be on that day of all days. It’s not a building horror it’s just like [claps] Full 10. There’s nothing right about that picture, her empty room on that day, no matter what they’ve been through there’s no way that room could or should be empty. And she’s gone.’

As panic sets in, Marlon legs it outside and rushes around the village. A search begins for April, but Marlon is hit with the sudden realisation that finding her is going to be harder than he thought – because he has April’s phone.

Mark told us: ‘There are search parties that happen almost immediately. Everybody rallies round very quickly. It’s one of those good villages moments where everybody’s differences are set aside completely.

‘There’s a missing kid – let’s all go. Ross goes. There’s a village-wide concern because they all know her really well. Everybody knows each other well and it’s so out of character.’

‘It escalates, this storyline, so this is just the beginning.’