The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.
Unlucky in love Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw) took quite a risk a few days ago in Emmerdale, and attempted to flirt with Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).
No-nonsense farmer Celia was introduced to us earlier this year. Up until last week, she was largely seen interacting with Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) amid their plan to work together and stop the Tates buying the land that surrounds Home Farm.
With Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) now back in Spain, Bob decided to turn his attention to Celia, attracted by her powerful independence.
His flirtatious remarks and innuendos about Belgian buns were never going to work on Celia. She rejected Bob and made it quite clear she wasn’t interested. In the latest episode though, things started to change.
April Windsor’s (Amelia Flanagan) life began to fall apart last Thursday, when her little brother Leo was admitted to hospital as a result of consuming some drugs that she had in her bag.
As she panicked about the police taking her away, April bumped into Celia at the hospital. She encouraged her to go outside and clear her head, and a vulnerable April then told Celia absolutely everything about dealing drugs and working for Ray Walters (Joe Absolom).
In a moment of rage, Celia slapped April across the face. She confirmed that she is Ray’s boss, and in charge of the entire drug ring.
Back at home, the teen put forward the idea of moving out.
Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) thought this was a brilliant idea, while Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) feared that April would leave the house and never return.
Unbeknownst to them both, April felt the need to leave so she could continue dealing, without running the risk of her family finding out.
April’s living arrangements were topic of conversation between Rhona, Marlon and Mary Goskirk (Louise Jameson) as Monday’s instalment opened. Marlon wondered if he should move into Tall Trees with April, but she was still adamant leaving alone was best for everyone.
A while later, Bob was seen in the café talking to Marlon. As he left, Bob laid his eyes on Celia – and things were awkward.
Celia offered some advice regarding April and then told Bob that she’d buy him a coffee. To Bob, this was a sign that Celia might be interested in him after all.
To Celia, it absolutely wasn’t.
After April packed her things, she headed to the bus stop, intending on moving into a room at Ray’s.
She was found by Bob, who refused to let her leave. He grabbed her bags and said that she’d be moving into the B&B with him.
Just before the episode ended, Ray arrived to update Celia. April moving in with her granddad wasn’t ideal for them, but she’s now away from her immediate family. In Celia’s eyes, it’s good enough for now.
The evil character also confirmed that she intends to use Bob to her advantage, which suggests she has every intention of stringing him along.
Poor Bob.
Who will work out that something is going on with April, with so many of her loved ones distracted?
‘There is many a merry-go-round to navigate’, star Jaye Griffiths said.
‘Oh my goodness [laughs], there’s so much more to come. It’s so delicious! I know I shouldn’t enjoy it this much, but I’m afraid I do. I’m just going to say there’s a stunts coordinator, that’s all I’m going to say.’
‘Fans love that she has no filter in that regard. My concern is that that love will diminish and will be somewhat tainted by Celia’s behaviour later. We shall see,’ she mused.
‘She’s great to play. To begin the day that you simply don’t care – you don’t care what anyone thinks and you don’t care about their feelings. You care how business is going and who can and cannot help business, that’s all the criteria you have.
‘What will best suit my business today is if I’m nice to you, so I will be. I can do ‘nice’ because I’ve practised. That’s how she navigates the world. It’s wonderful, she has no voice in her head that says she can’t, there’s no self-criticism. She has criticism of everybody else, but not of herself.’