watch now on ITVX and YouTube but hasn’t yet aired on ITV1.
In tonight’s visit to Emmerdale, two ongoing storylines converge in an emotional special episode. As Dawn Fletcher reflects on her traumatic past, there are clear parallels to the ordeal that local teen April Windsor is facing in the present day.
Meanwhile, friendship wins the day for Laurel Thomas and Nicola King as they unite in difficult circumstances.
What to Read Next
Read on for six spoilers from the episode.
1. Joe encourages Dawn to confide in him
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Dawn remains in a reflective mood after such a turbulent week spent worrying about Clemmie’s wellbeing. She can’t help thinking about her own dark past, but fears that her partner Joe Tate will never fully understand what she went through when she was a teenager.
Joe promises Dawn that he’d never judge her for her past and encourages her to be completely honest with him.
2. Ray issues some stern warnings
Over at the B&B, April gets ready for a meeting that scheming Ray has set up between her and Tim, an important client.
As Ray drives April to the ominous appointment, he’s full of stern warnings that she can’t mess this up.
3. Dawn shares her past
Hoping that she can trust Joe to react respectfully, Dawn opens up over the past and how badly she was manipulated by Alex back in the day. She recounts her experiences with drugs and exploitation.
As Dawn breaks down, will Joe react in the way that she’d hoped?
4. Nicola seeks out Laurel
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Despite vowing to end her friendship with Laurel in the heat of the moment, Nicola seeks her out at Mulberry Cottage when she needs someone to talk to.
The long-time friends soon realise that they’re out of touch with their children’s online lives and vow to work much harder to protect them from potential dangers.
5. April faces a terrifying situation
April arrives at Tim’s hotel room and hands over some cocaine to him.
Tim encourages April to stick around for a while and it’s clear that the villain has much more than a drug delivery on his mind. As terrified April gets trapped in the room with Tim, what will happen next?
6. Celia can’t stay away
After the latest dramatic events involving April, scheming Celia once again wades in to manipulate her.
Can Celia make sure that April doesn’t reach out for the help she clearly needs?
Bonus spoilers! What has Olivia Bromley, who plays Dawn, said about the episode?
“This episode is really important because Dawn didn’t have a stable family or home life, which she explains to Joe in this episode, and you can really see how she got herself into such a difficult situation for so many years,” Olivia told us.
“But what’s interesting with April is, she has such a wonderful family, and the world really is her oyster – she’s got a stable loving home, she’s at school and yet she’s still managed to go down this path.”
Meanwhile, in a recent chat with Inside Soap’s weekly podcast Soap Scoop, Olivia said: “Joe Tate is the epitome of what Dawn would see as a different class to her. He’s very put together. He’s not super emotional in lots of ways. With Dawn, shame over her past has really been a big problem, so for her to open up to him is a massive deal.
“As soon as she starts to feel judged by him – and that she’s not worthy of him and that he sees her as her past in a difficult way – it could really cause a rift between them.
“But what’s actually really nice is that Joe welcomes her to open up properly. I think it’s the first time you actually go: ‘I get why these two characters might be together’.
“It’s actually really a sweet bond between them. So I think it could bring them closer.”