MACKENZIE Boyd is on his guard this week as his sister Moira Dingle begins to ask uncomfortable questions.
Meanwhile, another Emmerdale resident’s life could be in danger as a villain finally reveals his true motives. Get the lowdown.
Can Mackenzie keeps his lips sealed?
Will Chloe’s return change anything?
1. Shock return
After weeks spent away from the Dales, Chloe Harris and Sarah Sugden make their way back to the eponymous village.
The pair took some time away from Yorkshire amid Chloe’s pregnancy, right after Sarah found out that Mackenzie was the father of the unborn child.
In scenes due to air on ITV, Chloe and Sarah (portrayed respectively by Jessie Elland and Katie Hill) come back as Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) is too distracted by her upcoming nuptials with Mack (Lawrence Robb).
The Woolpack landlady is gutted to hear the venue for her hen do has been flooded, which forces her to come up with a new plan.
Despite all the planning ahead, which Moira Dingle (Natalie J. Robb) takes part in, it’s awkward when Sarah and Chloe bump into Mack.
The hunk wants to know what’s going on and, particularly, why they’ve come back.
Chloe reassures him and reveals her stay is temporary and she’s simply back for a medical appointment.
Mack is even more relieved when Chloe insists she’s planning to move permanently to Scotland soon.
But there may be just enough time for their secret to be exposed.
Moira gets suspicious
2. Secrets come to light
Moira Dingle (portrayed by Natalie J. Robb) becomes a thorn in her brother’s side this week.
She’s first left newly responsible for both the hen party and Mack’s stag do but she’s also very sceptical of his choice for a best man.
When she spots Mackenzie interacting with a returning Chloe Harris, Moira grows suspicious of her brother.
Although she’s certain there’s more to their situation, she lets everything lie.
The following day, Charity is getting nervous about Moira organising her hen party but the latter begins to question Mackenzie.
Soon enough, her questions lead to a difficult subject – is he really ready to give up on the chance of having a baby of his own?
Charity’s displeased to arrive home and to find Moira sowing doubts.
Things are still up in the air after Moira’s pointed comments.
To make matters worse for Mackenzie, his pals Ryan Stocks and Nate Robinson tell him they’re not able to come to his stag and he’s flustered it’s all falling apart.
At the Hide, Charity is unimpressed when Moira reveals the theme for the combined Stag and Hen do but there’s more disappointment ahead.
Moira continues to pressure Mack about choosing Charity over the chance to become a father.
Could he let the truth slip?
Is Mackenzie’s relationship with Charity in danger?
3. Charity crushed by discovery
While that remains to be seen, an incident could make everything come to a head.
A defiant Chloe decides to stay longer at the combined party, despite Mack encouraging her to leave.
Sadly, Charity accidentally injures Chloe while she’s celebrating the result of a ferret race and all hell breaks loose.
Mackenzie rushes to her aid before Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson) takes her wounded sister to the hospital.
Aware he could expose his own secrets, Mack knows he has to check himself from seemingly overly concerned.
Moira continues to stir the pot with Charity and Mack realises he has to say something.
Charity reels after he confesses Moira thinks he still wants to be a dad more than anything.
She then struggles to believe Mackenzie when he says there’s nothing in Moira’s claims and when Charity bolts for the exit, Mack says he’ll never forgive Moira if she’s ruined his relationship.
Will Charity really leave?
Could Mack finally come clean about his one night stand with Chloe?
Alex shows his true colours
4. Manpreet is in danger
When Alex Moore (played by Liam Boyle) returned to the eponymous village after a stay behind bars, everything seemed to finally fall into place for him.
The character appeared ready to get back onto the straight and narrow and remain there, particularly after meeting Naomi Walters (Karene Peter).
In recent scenes of the Yorkshire-based soap, Alex found himself a job, willing to do whatever it would take to make ends meet without resorting to illegal activities.
Coming up, Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin) eats humble pie over his treatment of Alex as he’d initially tried to get his daughter Naomi to stay away from him out of fear for her.
Meanwhile, Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) gets a call about the surgery’s drug delivery – Alex seems interested.
He soon makes a furtive phone call himself and struggles to keep his cool with a mystery caller the following day.
Oblivious, Naomi and Charles are both happy and optimistic when he says he has a job interview that same day.
However, Alex is later spotted on the outskirts of the eponymous village by Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) as he’s handing cash to a mystery woman.
When Alex comes into the Woolpack, announcing that his interview went smoothly, Belle is left with the agonising decision whether to tell Naomi what he was really up to.
Chas backs up her sighting of Alex to a disbelieving Naomi, who gears up to confront him.
She later does so and catches him in a lie in the beer garden – but he promises to explain everything in good time.
His explanation is soon revealed to be innocent as he reveals to Naomi that he’s been helping the woman, Clare, with her finances and her son Max as he met the child’s father in prison.
Once he makes sure everything between him and Naomi is back on track, Alex makes up an excuse and leaves Woodbine to meet up with Clare again.
It’s then revealed that his relationship, which Naomi is convinced is growing strong, is actually a sham as Alex plans to rob the surgery.
Alex’s plan is clearly set in motion when, the following day, Manpreet and Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) deal with issues due to the surgery’s electrics being vandalised.
He listens with interest and steals Manpreet’s surgery keys from her bag.
Armed with a crowbar, he lets himself into the surgery to look for the drugs he’s been wanting and Manpreet is puzzled to find the front door open as she heads for her office.
Unbeknownst to her, Alex is lurking in the shadows with his crowbar raised in the air.
Amelia is torn between motherhood and her studies
5. Amelia makes huge decision
Elsewhere in the Dales, motherhood has been filled with many ups and downs for young Amelia (played by Daisy Campbell) and Samson Dingle (Sam Hall) hasn’t made it any easier.
After learning she was pregnant, the result of a night they’d spend together, Samson refused to have anything to do with the child – a decision he stuck to following Esther’s birth.
Sadly for Amelia, this meant that finding childcare would be increasingly difficult and, although Samson agreed to take care of his daughter while she was busy, he only did so in an attempt to extort money out of Noah.
Once he received all the cash he wanted, Samson took a step back from both Amelia and Esther, leaving the young mother in great difficulty.
This week, Amelia is contemplating quitting college because of the difficulties of finding care for Esther.
Noah is at a loss when she admits this to him as he knows he’s the one keeping Samson away from Esther and Amelia, out of fear he could be replaced.
Nonetheless, Amelia’s father Dan Spencer (Liam Fox) is determined to find a solution for her.
Meanwhile, Sam Dingle (James Hooton) is proud of his son Samson when the youngster reveals his latest exam results.
The lad is handed £20 to celebrate but Noah grows increasingly frustrated by Samson’s attitude.
Soon enough, the warring cousins square up to each other again.
Who will come out on top?
Cathy’s health is worrying her father Bob
6. Cathy gets devastating diagnosis
Meanwhile, Cathy Hope’s health becomes a cause for concern following her manic episode.
In recent scenes of the Yorkshire-based drama, the young girl portrayed by Gabrielle Dowling lashed out against her father Bob (Tony Audenshaw) and brother.
More recently, Cathy put herself in danger, prompting her nearest and dearest to realise there’s something going on.
This week, Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) and Wendy Posner (Susan Cookson) do their best to support Bob after Cathy was taken to hospital.
Wendy and village GP Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) then make a breakthrough in diagnosing the cause of Cathy’s symptoms but the implications leave them deeply concerned.
Manpreet then advises Bob that Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder could be the cause of Cathy’s suffering.
Unbeknownst to them, Cathy is listening to their conversation and is stunned to hear it could affect her for decades.
However, Bob decides not to tell Cathy anything about the diagnosis until it can be confirmed.
When Cathy tells him she’s already heard everything, Bob tries to reassure her by telling her they’ll get through it but she’s not ready to hear him.
Bob remains determined to help his daughter through thick and thin but will it be enough?
How will Paddy cope with his depression?
7. Paddy’s struggle continues
Despite the help provided to him, Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) is still struggling with his mental health.
The beloved village vet has a falling out with his best pal Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) this week, prompting the chef to cancel his planned birthday celebrations.
However, Mary Goskirk is excited to introduce the new woman in her life to her daughter Rhona, despite the cancelled party.
Later at the pub, Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) suggests to Paddy that he should make amends with Marlon, while Mary enjoys a date with Faye.
Eventually, Paddy visits Marlon to apologise and they express their gratitude for each other’s friendship.
The next day, Rhona trusts that Paddy is ready to return to work, and he manages to have a civil conversation with his wife Chas Dingle about breaking the news to Eve that he is moving out.
Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) invites Paddy to move in with him, but the situation becomes complicated when his father Bear Wolf unexpectedly moves in too.
How will it all go?
Emmerdale airs weeknights from 7.30pm on ITV.
