Celia and Ray’s downfall looms in Emmerdale as police swoop in
A vulnerable and exploited April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) makes a decision in Emmerdale soon that seriously impacts her future.
April and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) have been dealing drugs for the majority of this year. At first, they were solely interacting with Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), but are now often seen speaking to his mum Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths), the woman in control of the entire operation.
Alongside the drug dealing, Ray and Celia are also grooming vulnerable adults as part of a modern day slavery storyline. Two of the victims are Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) – Paddy Kirk’s (Dominic Brunt) dad – and Anya (Alia Al-Shabibi), the woman who arrived in England via the back of a depot truck.
Bear, Anya and a number of other individuals work on Celia’s farm and are given food and a bed for the night in return. They are also manipulated into thinking that the lives they are living now won’t ever change.
April stands looking worried in Emmerdale
April debates confessing (Picture: ITV)
In upcoming episodes, Celia has another problem on her hands as she learns that April has been arrested.
Acting as her appropriate adult, Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw) arrives at the station and listens to April, who says the police have made a mistake. She is interviewed about drugs, and is taken aback when DS Clarke straight up asks if she’s being exploited.
She debates confessing all and later, April tells Bob that she won’t ever speak to him again if he tells Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) about the arrest.
When April and Bob return to the village, Bob struggles with hiding the arrest from Marlon. Listening in is Celia, who steps in and assures him that April’s arrest is minor.
Celia Daniels standing menacingly beside a worried April Windsor in Emmerdale.
Celia’s had enough of April (Picture: ITV)
Bear Wolf sitting in an attic in Emmerdale, trapped, looking dishevelled and sad.
Meanwhile, Bear continues to work as a slave on the farm (Picture: ITV)
When Celia and April are alone, the teen is left shaken when Celia says that she’s used up her last chance.
Alongside this, Anya’s fever gets worse as Bear anxiously tends to her. Ray tells the old man to get back to work, but promises to get some medication.
After spending time with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), Ray returns to the farm and discovers Anya is in a terrible state, and his guilt increases even more when he learns that she has a daughter.
Feeling bad, Ray allows Bear to stay with her as she drifts in and out of consciousness.
Bear vows to look after Anya and stay by her side, but is she going to pull through?
‘It’s easy to be manipulated. It was quite poignant really, but as an actor of course it was a great thing to do’, star Joshua Richards said, reflecting on this story.
Anya, Ray and Bear in an attic in Emmerdale
The workers on the farm are slaves (Picture: ITV)
‘It was a lovely challenge. I treat anything like this, when it’s got meat on it, I relish it with joy.’
Praising Emmerdale for tackling the subject matter, he continued: ‘It’s very important that soaps cover this because they’ve got the time to do it justice.
‘I’m very fortunate because I’ve had coming up for seven years now of playing Bear and playing him in all sorts of different situations and this is the first time when we’ve gone into something really, really dark.