ITV received more than 300 Ofcom complaints after Emmerdale aired harrowing murder and sex slavery scenes.
An ongoing county lines storyline involves April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) being manipulated by drug dealers Celia (Jaye Griffiths) and Ray (Joe Absolom).
In particular, it has seen long-standing character April forced into drug dealing and child prostitution.
After the crime ring bosses organised for her to sleep with an older man, April was seen brutally murdering him after deciding not to go through with it.
In a gut-wrenching twist, it transpired the man, Callum, hadn’t actually died – but Celia and Ray manipulated April into thinking he had, in a bid to control her.
The episode, which aired on December, 4 saw regulating body Ofcom receive 297 complaints from disgusted Emmerdale viewers.
Emmerdale received over 300 Ofcom complaints after airing harrowing scenes in an ongoing storyline
Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffith) are running the ruthless county lines gang
In particular, Ray has been lying to and manipulating both Dylan and April – with their situation only getting more dire
This followed a further 59 complaints being submitted following the instalment aired just two days earlier.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said: ‘The majority of complaints related to the Celia/Ray storyline appearing pre-watershed.’
In the December 4 episode, April finally told dad Marlon (Mark Charnock) and stepmum Rhona (Zoe Henry) the truth about her situation – to their horror.
However, Celia took callous measures to prevent her and Ray’s despicable secret from coming out.
She showed April’s family a livestream of Ray running down Dylan with his car, in a clear threat.
Although Dylan received life-threatening injuries, he was taken to hospital and fortunately survived the incident.
Last month, the distressing storyline took centre stage for a mind-boggling soap twist.
These scenes saw April seemingly finally confide in Marlon about her heartbreaking ordeal.
Shocked, Marlon insisted they must go to the police to report Ray and Celia to help April finally escape her ‘nightmare’ once and for all.
But everything went wrong when Ray arrived at their home and pulled out a gun on Marlon – just moments after April warned him how dangerous the county lines gang are.
Having apparently discovered April had finally shared with Marlon about what had been going on, Ray aims at and shot Marlon in attempt to kill him.
This saw Marlon shot in the chest, collapsing to the ground and left slumped over on the kitchen floor bleeding out, with April unable to save him.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Marlon said and a tearful April replies while attempting to save his life: ‘I shouldn’t have told you anything. Stop it! You are not dying on me, please!’
As Marlon tries to gasp for a few final breaths, he tells his daughter: ‘Never… never… never forget how much I love you,’ before appearing to die in front of her.
Celia and Ray’s criminal activity includes modern slavery – with one of their victims being show regular Bear Wolf (played by Joshua Richards)
Mind-boggling scenes last month showed April seemingly opening up to Marlon about what’s been happening – but all is not as it seems
However, all was not as it seemed as – with it revealed that April opening up and Marlon’s ‘death’ were all in her imagination.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Marlon actor Mark said: ‘There’s a twist in it that will stagger the audience! April turns up at the house and he’s on his own and the episode begins.
‘The first act, if you like, is about him rediscovering his daughter, the daughter he knew before everything tragic that happened to her, and her rediscovering not only her dad but that part of herself too, so it’s really something.
‘I was absolutely buzzing. It’s thrilling, it’s flattering to be trusted with an episode and to work with Amelia [Flanagan] in that way.
‘It’s an absolutely outstanding script, it’s an absolute gift for an actor.’
Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.