Emmerdale’s Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) still hasn’t learned his lesson in being overprotective towards April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan), and the result is April’s life left hanging in the balance.
Time and time again April has asked him to back off and trust her. Marlon has been having none of that, desperately trying to control her every move to prevent her from going AWOL again.
He has good intentions, but all it’s doing is driving a wedge between them, and proving dangerous to all those involved.
His actions nearly caused the death of Dylan (Fred Kettle) when he tried to frame the young lad for stealing Ketamine from the vets.
In response and thinking he’d hit rock bottom, Dylan took an overdose and almost died.
Overcome with guilt, Marlon agreed to pay for him to go to rehab, and between the two of them they decided not to tell April about Marlon’s heinous crime.
A brave and valiant move for Dylan, a stupid one for Marlon – who’s still not changing his behaviour.
While in rehab Dylan sends April a message, but Marlon pockets it, much to Paddy’s (Dominic Brunt) disdain. Paddy tries to convince him otherwise, but Marlon keeps the letter to himself.
April has proven she is anything but stupid, and she knows her dad is still behaving like an idiot. At the end of her tether, she nicks a vial of ketamine from the vets and sneaks off with it.
There’s horror waiting for Marlon when he returns home and is confronted by the worst scene imaginable – April unconscious with the empty vial lying next to her.
While Marlon is utterly horrified, actor Mark Charnock has confirmed all isn’t as it seems where this scene is concerned:
‘She fakes an overdose to teach them a lesson, which is so horrifying. Marlon’s been speaking to Rhona in the cafe and he’s going to have it out with her, “Let’s just sort this out, we can do this, you’re my daughter, we can get through anything” and he walks in and on the floor he sees his daughter with what appears to be a used ketamine vial next to her, and the horror is total and instantaneous’, he said.
Metro’s Soaps Reporter Calli Kitson says…
Marlon’s love for his daughter shines every single day and I adore that about him, so having her suddenly disappear without a single word of warning back in December was always going to utterly destroy the character.
Mark Charnock proved during the stroke storyline that he is one of soapland’s best ever actors.
His portrayal of a broken father wanting answers about his missing daughter hit me right in the heart, so much so I even found myself feeling an element of relief when I discovered the day of April’s return.
Marlon has now come to understand that the little girl who left him on Christmas Day is not the same person who has returned.
April watched her friend get stabbed and gave birth to her stillborn baby in the toilet of a gym – the innocence she carried before this will take a while to return – if it ever does.
Read more here.
‘After everything they’ve been through – Dylan’s overdose, April’s disappearance – for all the world it looks like she’s dead.
‘He thinks that she’s not quite dead, he’s screaming about getting help and then she sits up and says “That’s what karma feels like”.’
‘It’s awful, it’s a really good piece of drama, it’s an awful thing for a parent to have to go through but I think what they’re doing is they’re showing the extent to which their trust has been broken and it is a real turning point.’
