Anthony Fox (Nicholas Day) is k.i.l.l.e.d this coming week in Emmerdale as the village residents discover his e.v.i.l true nature.
Anthony is Ruby Fox-Miligan’s (Beth Cordingly) father and was also responsible for s.e.x.u.a.l.l.y abusing her when she was younger. Shortly after he arrived, Anthony made a comment to Ruby about Caleb Miligan (William Ash) not being Steph’s (Georgia Jay) father.
This left Ruby determined to get answers. She conducted a DNA test in secret and when the results were sent, Ruby decided she wouldn’t open them, knowing the fallout would be too catastrophic if it said Caleb isn’t Steph’s dad.
Unfortunately, things have played out differently for Ruby. This week, Anthony’s dark past resurfaces again but this time, more people find out – and it leads to one of them k.i.l.l.i.n.g him.
But who’s on the list of suspects?
Let’s take a look.
Nicola King and Laurel Thomas
With Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) unaware of Anthony’s past as the week begins, she leaves him to tutor Angelica (Rebecca Bakes) unsupervised. In the café though, once she hears Nicola has left Angel alone with Anthony, Chas (Lucy Pargeter) lets her know that Angelica isn’t safe around him.
Rushing home, Nicola confronts Anthony, who responds with anger. Following behind Nicola is Laurel, who bursts into the house and attacks Anthony with a candlestick, leaving him unconscious.
But will this showdown push one of them to s.h.o.o.t.i.n.g the man?
‘Laurel thinks Anthony is a lovely gentleman who is helping her son with maths tuition, she has no suspicious feelings at all about Anthony’, star Charlotte Bellamy said.
‘She walks in on Anthony a.t.t.a.c.k.i.n.g Nicola so she hits him over the head. Nicola then tells Laurel he is a s.e.x.u.a.l predator. Laurel can’t believe this revelation and is in s.h.o.c.k about this as he seemed genuinely a nice honest man. Laurel is a good honest person but fiercely loyal. I don’t think she EVER is capable of real h.a.r.m.’
Cain and Chas Dingle
In the pub backroom, Cain (Jeff Hordley) is troubled to see Chas so emotional over something.
Fearing his tryst with Ruby has been uncovered, Cain does his best to get Chas to open up, and he’s left completely horrified when Chas reveals a secret.
But will the anger and heartbreak Cain and Chas feel towards Ruby’s situation cause one of them to pull the trigger?
Aaron Dingle
He’s not exactly a likely candidate, but anything is possible when it comes to Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller). In upcoming episodes, he spots an unguarded interaction between Anthony and Ruby and wonders what is going on.
As Aaron gets closer to the truth, he is reminded of his past with biological father Gordon, who s.e.x.u.a.l.l.y abused him, prompting him to dciret his anger about his t.r.a.u.m.a at Ruby’s dad.
Danny explained: ‘He is instantly aggressive and destined for revenge, for Ruby, of course, but he sees his chance to level with Gordon who took “the coward’s way out” as Aaron calls it – k.i.l.l.i.n.g himself in prison.
‘He sees an opportunity to hand over Gordon (in Anthony) to the police – who will then serve his sentence in p.r.i.s.o.n and give Ruby the justice she a) deserves and b) never had the chance of having himself.’
He continued: ‘I think it’s pure d.i.s.g.u.s.t and d.r.e.a.d as to how he’ll deal with this and bringing back so many evil and dark memories for Aaron that he’d suppressed for so many years. Having experienced the same abuse and disgusting acts and never really got the justice he deserved or that Gordon (his Dad) deserved – the motive is there in plain sight!’
Caleb Miligan
Top of our list is of course Ruby’s husband Caleb. Future instalments of the soap will see Caleb confront Anthony and order him to get out of his car.
With Anthony later getting s.h.o.t in the depot, it certainly increases the chance of Caleb being responsible as he owns the business.
Or is it too obvious for it to be him?
‘Initially he isn’t, but when he’s confronted with Anthony and the way he doesn’t accept responsibility for what he’s done and is so casual about it and almost blames Ruby for the abuse, I think that makes Caleb so angry’, star William Ash said.
‘I don’t think he is capable initially but when he’s confronted with Anthony’s indifference to what he’s done it sends Caleb into a tailspin and a rage.’
Ruby herself
Poor Ruby has been on edge ever since Anthony arrived in the Dales.
With her secret spilling into the village, could she shoot her father d.e.a.d in a desperate and emotional state?
‘I felt really privileged to be given this storyline. When you feel like people are prepared to give you something as big as this you feel like they are trusting you with it’, star Beth Cordingly said.
As a story it’s a subject that I feel, as many people do, very passionately about. And I’ve worked in the past with Childline and the NSPCC, so it’s a subject that I wasn’t nervous about taking on in terms of being scared by the storyline, it was more that you just really want to make sure that if you’re telling something like that, you’re telling it right.
‘And so it’s been a relief to get some of the reactions I’ve had from people who have been saying they feel like we’re telling the story in a sensitive way, because that’s what we wanted to do.
‘And we all felt, as a programme, if it helps one person, or it can help one person feel validated, or one person turns and says “this happened to me”, then that would be a really amazing thing.’
