Marlon and his wife Rhona are planning to flee from the village so that their daughter April doesn’t have to keep doing drugs jobs for Ray and Celia. They first came up with the idea last week, seeing no other way out after Ray and Celia’s sinister threats.

In tonight’s episode, Marlon and Rhona solidify their desperate measures – planning to leave with their family that day. Knowing that April won’t want to leave Dylan, they agree to keep her in the dark for as long as possible.

Dylan is still fighting for his life in hospital after Ray deliberately ran him over in the road. Ray carried out the horrific plan as a double punishment for Dylan and April both disobeying his orders.

In new scenes tonight, Marlon acknowledges that he may be throwing Dylan to the wolves by leaving him behind.

“I hate that as much as you do – it’s destroying me,” Marlon tells Rhona. “To think what he might wake up to – if he wakes up.

“But what’s the alternative? We stay here like sitting ducks. If April finds out what we’re doing now, she’ll never leave him.”

Later, when it’s time to come clean, Marlon and Rhona’s forceful tactics don’t go down well with April at all…

“April’s horrified when she realises that Marlon and Rhona are essentially kidnapping her,” our Emmerdale source explains. “It’s the last thing she wants – she fears any rash moves like this will only make the ordeal worse for everyone.

“It seems that April is right on this front, as Ray manages to stay one step ahead…”

Fans can see how the drama plays out in full when the episode airs tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1, or it’s streaming early now on ITVX and YouTube.