Emmerdale star Emma Atkins has revealed that her character Charity Dingle is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after killing Chloe’s father Damon ‘Harry’ Harris.
In the run-up to Christmas, Charity’s husband Mackenzie was kidnapped and held hostage by Damon in revenge for his treatment of Chloe, with whom Mackenzie has a young son, Reuben.
A battered and bruised Mackenzie was ultimately tracked down to a remote building by Charity and Chas, where Charity was horrified to see that Damon planned to shoot Mackenzie dead.
Mackenzie launched himself at Damon, causing him to drop his gun, which Charity then grabbed. As Damon tried to prise it out of her hand, the gun went off and he was fatally wounded.
Viewers have since seen Charity try to bury her anguish and carry on as normal, but it will become increasingly apparent that she is deeply traumatised by the incident.
Next week on the soap, a loud but innocuous bang in the village leaves her severely shaken, and when sister-in-law Moira tries to comfort her, Charity snaps and pins her against a wall.
“Charity's never, ever been in that situation before,” says Emma. “She's never had a gun in her hand. It was all at such close contact as well.
"It's just so utterly traumatic and beyond anyone's comprehension, and I think it troubles her to the point where she can't really relate to anyone.
“She's constantly re-living the moment and it's going to lead to a lot of PTSD, really. The shutters are coming down and she's just going through her own hell.
“She's locking it all in and trying to compartmentalise it, which makes it worse. She's a ticking time bomb as she doesn't know how to deal with it. She's lost.”
Emma adds that the incident will put a severe strain on Charity and Mackenzie's relationship as they try to deal with their turmoil privately, rather than leaning on each other for support.
“They’re two people living under the same roof, leading very separate lives, which is difficult for all the family.
“It's a really tragic love story because they're not able to celebrate their lives because they've got all this going on. It's hellish, really, and I think the next few months is exploring that level of pain and pressure in a relationship.”
Emmerdale bosses have previously hinted that Moira may become embroiled in the dramatic plot. Last year, producer Laura Shaw said the farmer would reveal a big secret from her past in order to help a struggling villager.
“She does it in a way to try and help the person that she's talking to,” Shaw revealed, “but how is that person going to react when they find out Moira's deepest, darkest secret? If they blow it, it could threaten Moira's whole life.”
Viewers know that Moira is also a killer, having pushed Emma Barton to her death from a viaduct in 2017. Will she let Charity in on her killer past?
