Emmerdale airs jaw-dropping April twist as fans left 'staggered'

Emmerdale's upcoming standalone episode focusing on Marlon Dingle and his daughter April Windsor is set to leave fans in complete shock, actor Mark Charnock has revealed. April (Amelia Flanagan) has struggled to return to normal life after spending time on the streets earlier this year. The teenager fell met Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) and soon found herself pulled into the criminal underworld, forced to sell drugs for Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and his boss Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).

The storyline recently took a harrowing turn when April was trafficked by Celia and Ray. After fleeing when she couldn't go through with it, she was left terrified as the pair warned her she wouldn't get away with defying them a second time. Next week's special episode will explore the fragile and perhaps irreparable relationship between Marlon and April. The teenager contemplates opening up to her father about what she has been going through, while a concerned Marlon hopes he can get through to his daughter to prevent her slipping further from his grasp.

Opening up about the fractured relationship between Marlon and April, Mark told Express Online: "It's been a house full of eggshells and they've circled each other tentatively for quite a long time now. He's constantly trying to win her round gently but she's constantly resisting that.

"Neither of them know where the other one stands, so there's a lot of nervous energy around the house."

April's drug dealing nearly cost her younger brother Leo his life when he found and took her ecstasy pills. Yet even after the incident, and April's unconvincing claim that she had only found the drugs, Marlon still couldn't see the truth of what was really happening.

With Marlon desperate to rebuild his relationship with his daughter, Mark pointed out that his emotions were clouding his judgment.

"He's so willing to make this work that his brain won't go anywhere else other than what she is telling him," the actor said.

Mark explained that April's time on the streets has forced her to grow up in ways he could never truly understand.

He said: "April has changed in a way that he doesn't have a dictionary for. He doesn't understand or have the words in his soul to even begin to contemplate what she's been through and what it might have done to her."

Teasing what fans can expect from the special episode, the soap star revealed: "There's a twist in it that will stagger the audience. Something happens that, when I read it, it shocked me so much that I wish I'd known about it before I read it. It threw me."

Mark admitted he was thrilled to be trusted with such a powerful episode and said he was grateful to work alongside Amelia, 17, in that way.

He added: "It's an absolutely outstanding script. It's an absolute gift for an actor. It was really rewarding and intense, given the nature of the story."

The special episode will have lasting repercussions for several characters, and it's clear that the light at the end of the tunnel is still a long way off.

"Things are going to get considerably worse before they get better," Mark confirmed. "The great thing about this story is that it impacts so many different characters. It's a storyline that keeps on giving."

Mark detailed the lengths Marlon will go to in order to protect April once he discovers her harrowing ordeal, admitting he could do something "reckless" that could have lasting consequences.

He declared: "I think he could do something extraordinarily reckless. Marlon would sacrifice himself for his child and I think he could do something irrational that could cause everlasting damage."