Emmerdale spoilers: Rhona Goskirk takes drastic action to keep Ivy and it’s controversial

Over Christmas in Emmerdale, Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock)’s family gained an extra member – when Mary Goskirk (Louise Jameson) brought baby Ivy and her dad Gus (Alan McKenna) to stay with them.

Ivy has Rhona’s DNA, because she came from an embryo that Rhona and Gus had had frozen when they were married years ago. Ivy’s birth mother died soon after the birth, and Gus struggled to cope with a newborn while grieving for his wife.

Mary was visiting Gus to check on how he and Ivy were getting along and she found Ivy suffering badly from nappy rash and Gus barely coping – so she had no choice but to bring them home.

The worry was that Rhona would become too attached to the baby, and that’s exactly what’s happened. Gus vanished and left Ivy with the family, and since then each member of the family has bonded with the baby.

Will she regret it?

So when Gus called Rhona out of the blue, her instinct was to put him off coming back to get Ivy, and she didn’t tell Marlon he’d called.

In upcoming episodes, Rhona realises she has to come clean about that conversation with Gus – and Mary warns her that she has to prepare herself for Gus’s return and for Ivy leaving them to go to live with her dad.

Rhona can’t accept that outcome and decides to talk to lawyer Ethan Anderson (Emile John) again about gaining legal custody of Ivy.

Previously she was told that even though she and Ivy are genetically related, she has no legal claim to the baby.

But could she be willing to use Gus disappearing as evidence that he’s not a fit father? And how will she react when Gus turns up at the house?

Actress Zoe Henry told us that Rhona will be ready to go to ‘fairly drastic’ lengths to keep Ivy.

‘If you were threatened with somebody saying, “Well, it’s not your baby is it?” even though you’ve looked after it for two months and biologically it’s yours and it’s your DNA, but you’re never going to be able to see it again.

‘I think I’d probably get pretty drastic as well in that moment, you know?’ she said.

‘It’s that primal thing – that’s her baby.’