Emmerdale spoilers follow from Friday’s episode (23 January), which is available to watch now on ITVX and YouTube but hasn’t yet aired on ITV1.
Emmerdale fans are still reeling from the revelation that Bear Wolf killed Ray Walters at the start of the month – and that his son Paddy Dingle has been helping him to cover it up for weeks. Now the soap is shining a spotlight on some key scenes where Paddy concealed the shocking secret from almost everyone around him.
This week’s flashback episodes have revealed that Paddy has known all about Bear’s modern slavery ordeal since 2 January, when Dylan Penders secretly tipped him off. Afterwards, Ray turned violent and threatening towards Paddy and Dylan – only stopping when Bear stepped in and brutally killed him.
Some tense follow-up scenes tonight reveal what happened next – and how Ray’s body ended up being driven around by an oblivious Jai Sharma in Corriedale.
But there’s also a look back at some key Paddy scenes from recent weeks, which can now be viewed in a very different light following the dramatic flashbacks…
As Paddy says to Dylan in another rewind scene tonight: “When Jai does find the body, we just act as shocked as anyone. Enough people hate Ray. We need to keep dad out of this.”
Here’s how they did it…
ITV
In this scene, Paddy returned to the village after telling everyone that he’d been away on a work trip. His reappearance coincided with April Windsor going to the police to recount the full story of how Ray and Celia Daniels exploited her.
When April, Rhona and Marlon all informed Paddy that they needed to tell him something important, he feigned total ignorance by asking: “What have you been doing? Right, is somebody going to start making sense or what?”
With a poker face like this, he could be on The Traitors…
2. Thursday 8 January – Paddy reassures April and Dylan
ITV
Later in the same episode, April apologised to Paddy for not letting him know about Bear’s ordeal on Celia’s farm sooner. A shifty-looking Dylan was also present for this key conversation.
Paddy replied: “It’s not your fault. Not even a little bit, are you listening?”
In retrospect, Paddy’s calm and understanding reaction was a clue to how he’d already had time to process the revelations much earlier – well aware of how Ray had manipulated his various victims.
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In this episode, Paddy was being comforted by the villagers following some grim conversations with the police regarding Bear’s fate. The detectives believed that Bear could be dead, although Paddy secretly knew otherwise.
Aaron Dingle approached Paddy at The Woolpack to comfort him, admitting: “I don’t know what to say, mate.”
Paddy replied: “Same.” Then he skilfully steered the conversation in a different direction, referencing Aaron’s own recent dramas with John Sugden in Corriedale.
4. Monday 12 January – Billy announces Ray’s death
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When Ray’s body was finally found by the police at Caleb Miligan’s depot, the staff all stood down for the day as a murder investigation began.
At a loose end for the day, Billy Fletcher arrived at the café and announced the news of Ray’s death – with Paddy and Dylan among those there to hear about it. They weren’t shocked, but had to pretend they were.
Paddy innocently asked: “Did they mention if anyone else was involved? Like Celia?” And even Dylan appeared stunned by Paddy’s ability to lie so well under pressure…
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In this episode, the police paid a return visit to Paddy and Dylan – confirming that Ray’s body had been formally identified. They also reiterated their commitment to finding Bear, unaware that Paddy already knew exactly where he was!
Keeping up the act, Paddy slyly questioned Dylan in front of the police, asking him to clarify what Bear looked like now. Of course, he already knew.
Addressing the detective, Paddy then added: “Please, can you just do anything you can to find him?”
And a tense showdown…
ITV
Although not featured again on screen tonight, Paddy also gave Moira Dingle a hard time when gossip spread around the village over her connections to evil Celia.
On Friday 9 January, Paddy confronted Moira at The Woolpack when she approached him to say sorry.
Paddy replied: “For what – for going into business with people traffickers? You knew that she’d forged your signature. You knew that she was dodgy. But you never thought to ask even a few questions about what she was really up to on that farm?”
While Paddy’s anger over the situation was genuine, it also served as a helpful distraction from everything he was hiding himself. Sneaky!
Paddy was slightly more generous in another pub scene on Thursday 15 January, when Moira told everyone that the police seemed determined to implicate her in the modern slavery scandal.
He responded: “Well, I’ve known you for long enough. And I know for a fact you’d never get mixed up in anything like this.” That’s better, Paddy!
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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