What has Santa brought Emmerdale’s Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick)? Apparently, a multi-million pound country estate! Someone’s been good this year…
Except she hasn’t. Not really. Because we all know that organising a dodgy shoot for trigger-happy poachers on your best friend’s land without permission is a one-way ticket to the naughty list. But that’s exactly what Lydia did when she reluctantly agreed to her husband Sam’s (James Hooton) classic Dingle caper behind Kim Tate’s (Claire King) back as part of the family’s continuing mission to not be skint – especially at Christmas.
However, the plan backfired spectacularly when Kim got wind of poachers in the woods and rode her beloved horse Ice to the scene of the crime to investigate… only to get caught on a snare and take a nasty fall.
This resulted in Ice being severely injured and Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) making the heartbreaking decision to have the animal put down.
Now if you had to make a list of things Kim Tate loved, Lydia would probably be number two – even above money, champagne and sassy putdowns. But that nag would take the number one spot every time. So needless to say, Kim lashed out at Lydia and pushed her away, thus ending one of the most unlikely yet sweet friendships in Emmerdale.
But on Christmas Eve, Lydia was determined to be Bob Cratchit to Kim’s Scrooge as she prepares her famous sherry trifle for her former bestie to offer an olive branch. While she’s hopeful, Sam reckons that there’s a good chance Lydia will come home wearing that trifle.
For once, Sam Dingle’s right on the money. When Lydia takes the trifle to Home Farm, an unforgiving Kim hurls the bowl onto the floor. Seeing her signature dish plastered all over Home Farm’s floorboards is a red line for Lydia, and she finally gives up on mending their friendship, leaving with a parting shot: ‘If tomorrow was a year since Sam’s death, heaven forbid, I wouldn’t want to spend it all sad and alone!’
This is a sore spot for Kim, as it has been exactly a year since her husband Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) died of a heart attack at Christmas.
Once Lydia had gone, she broke down in tears, gazing at a photograph of the Tate Family in happier times.
But Lydia won’t give up on Kim no matter what, so on Christmas Day she invites herself in for drinks with her troubled bestie. Whilst frosty at first, Kim soon softens when she hears Lydia’s impassioned speech full of love for their friendship.
‘I like having a posh friend. It gives me an air of mystery’.
With a silver tongue like that, how can Kim possible refuse?
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So she allows Lydia to take her to Will’s grave, where they find Joe and Dawn Fletcher (Olivia Bromley). Bonding over the graveside, everyone buries the hatchet and Joe agrees to move back in.
Just when you thought that Christmas miracles were make believe, Kim actually sets foot in the Dingle’s cottage for some festive fun with Lydia and her family. She even partakes in the sacred Dingle custom of drinking booze from a wellington boot!
Warmed by the love of her family (and possibly by drinking moonshine from weather resistant footwear) Kim makes Lydia a shocking offer – she wants her to inherit Home Farm.
Very generous! But one can’t help thinking that Joe may have a problem with this…
