Every soap mother’s worst nightmare? An evil kid. Now Emmerdale’s Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) is facing the grim prospect of her own son Arthur Thomas (Alfie Clarke) becoming a murderer…
Laurel’s New Year got off to a horrific start when she discovered that her new boyfriend Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) was not the charming eligible bachelor he made himself out to be, but a cold-hearted criminal dealing in drug trafficking and modern slavery with his partner in crime and adoptive mother, the devilish Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths)
Appalled to realise that her new beau had forced vulnerable teenagers like April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) into drug trafficking, Laurel was horrified that she’d ever let this man near her kids and screamed at Ray to get off her property.
Next thing we know, Ray turns up dead…and we see Laurel on her own, uneasily fiddling with the expensive bracelet that he got her for Christmas.
Viewers will soon discover there’s more to Ray’s murder than meet in the eye, in an upcoming week of whodunnit episodes turning back the clocks to the day Ray died and focusing on the perspective of three suspects; Laurel, Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry). Thursday’s episode will take us back to the moment Ray killed Celia, exploring what really happened that day.
Laurel’s special episode begins with a sickened and disgusted Laurel struggling to accept the extent of Ray’s evil.
After she slams the door in his face, Ray bursts back into Mulberry, begging Laurel to forgive him. He uses his traumatic childhood under the thrall of the controlling Celia to make himself a victim, hoping to pull on Laurel’s heartstrings.
But nothing can justify the exploitation of desperate people, and Laurel washes her hands of Ray for good – a decision with fatal consequences. Seeing his mother terrified, Arthur’s furious with Ray and is determined to make him pay.
Then on Thursday, Emmerdale will pull back the curtain and show audiences every detail of Ray’s final moments as he stands over Celia’s body, shaken and afraid.
Once he’s grabbed a distinctive red sports bad and wiped the fingerprints off the knife in Celia’s back, Ray goes upstairs…where the sight of Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) dead by Celia’s hand hits him like a punch to the gut.
During their final explosive confrontation, Celia had mocked Ray for getting to close to their forced labourers and boasted that she had the stomach to do what her son never could and tie up their loose ends.
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Now Ray is rocked to see a man he considered a friend dead and gone, another victim of their human trafficking empire. Pulling himself together, he prepares to dispose of his adoptive mother’s body.
Meanwhile in the village, Arthur’s still livid about all the pain Ray’s caused his mum, when suddenly he spies the drug-dealer’s distinctive red-holdall. Thirsty for revenge, he swipes the back as payback, completely oblivious to the horrifying chain of events that decision is about to put in motion…
Sure enough, Laurel hits the roof when Arthur returns with Ray’s stolen bag – which is full to the brim with stolen drugs. This leads to a fiery confrontation…
Has Arthur just brought mortal danger to his mum’s door?
