Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) was a woman with a guilty conscience in Friday (December 19)’s Emmerdale – and it led her to make a confession.
The beloved character was blaming herself and Sam Dingle (James Hooton) for an accident that had resulted in Kim Tate (Claire King) being badly injured, and had also led to the death of Kim’s beloved horse, Ice.
Sam had arranged an illicit shoot on Kim’s land to help raise some much-needed cash to pay for the various repairs that were needed at Wishing Well. Lydia agreed to help out by keeping Kim out of the way, and she also helped Sam to deal with the people who’d paid to hunt on Kim’s land.
These people expected a lot for their money, and Lydia had to talk them out of doing illegal and cruel hare coursing. She suggested they could snare rabbits instead, as well as shoot pheasants.
It was one of these snares that injured Ice’s leg, causing him to rear and Kim to fall to the ground. Kim had gone to the woods to check what was going on after Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick) said she’d spotted some suspicious goings-on as she drove past.
While Kim was lying yelling for help in the woods, Lydia was at the Woolpack having the time of her life. Kim had arranged a special appearance by Jason Donovan as a surprise for the woman she called her ‘best friend.’
In the aftermath of the accident, Ice had to be put to sleep and in this episode Lydia helped Kim to scatter his ashes in a field that had a view that Kim loved to ride to. Emotionally, Kim said Ice had been her friend. Saying goodbye to him made her cry.
Since the accident – which has left Kim with her leg in a cast – she’s become suspicious of everyone around her. She suspects Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) – and by extension, Dawn (Olivia Bromley) – of having designs on getting his hands on her empire sooner rather than later.
Gabby (Rosie Bentham), who was heading off to visit her mum for Christmas, is more interested in herself than anyone else.
For Kim, that left only Lydia as being someone she could trust and rely on. So she changed her will and left Home Farm to her. And with Lydia already feeling guilty about what had happened, this was too much.
Sam told her to accept Kim’s offer. To his mind, Dingles had been poachers and gamekeepers on Home Farm land for generations, so they deserved to be lords of the manor.
After Lydia and Kim had finished scattering Ice’s ashes they went back to the house and soon Sam turned up. Kim asked him to help her convince Lydia to accept her offer.
This pushed Lydia too far and she blurted out that Ice died because of her and Sam.
Can’t wait for the next twist?
Hi, I’m Calli Kitson, Soaps reporter at Metro. I cover Emmerdale, EastEnders, Corrie and more.
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Kim was horrified. Even though Sam tried to get Lydia off the hook by saying it had all been his idea, Kim wasn’t having any of it and said that Lydia had betrayed her. She sacked Sam and sent him on his way. Then she turned to Lydia, telling her that nothing she could do would put things back to how they were.
To Kim’s mind, Lydia had joined a long list of people she’d loved and trusted who then betrayed her. She declared she would never trust anyone again, and told Lydia she was also sacked and she didn’t want to see her at Home Farm again.
After Lydia had gone, Kim was left alone and in tears after losing the one person she thought would never betray her.
