Emmerdale finally gives an update on Robert Sugden in surprise Aaron Dingle scenes

Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) discovered Victoria (Isabel Hodgins)’s secret romance with Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) in Wednesday (December 13)’s Emmerdale – and he was surprisingly supportive.

The loved-up twosome have been fearing telling people about their relationship, particularly in light of the fact that it was the reason that Jacob’s dad and Victoria’s ex, David (Matthew Wolfenden), left the village. They’re especially worried about telling Pollard (Chris Chittell) and Leyla (Roxy Shahidi), who are both likely to take the news badly for different reasons.

So Victoria was perhaps being a little careless leaving her phone on the table at the Woolpack while she popped to the toilet. She’s gone for a drink with Aaron and he had a look at the phone when messages kept pinging up every few seconds – and saw they were from Jacob.

When Victoria got back to the table Aaron allowed himself to tease her a bit about her new boyfriend, asking if it was in bad taste to ask which one was better in bed – father or son. Obviously she declined to answer that one.

Aaron’s former boyfriend Robert is currently in prison

But when Aaron realised that Victoria really loves Jacob, he was genuinely glad for her and had some wise words to say about the fact that Jacob now feels they can’t tell anyone about their relationship until the new year.

‘If Jacob is The One, then wait for him,’ he advised. She said it sounded like he was speaking from experience and he said maybe he was.

‘Robert’s doing ok,’ she said. ‘Whilst we’re talking about The One.’

‘Didn’t ask,’ said Aaron, quickly changing the subject by saying, ‘I’m going to change the subject.’

The mention of Victoria’s brother Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) will be music to the ears of the many fans who still hold Aaron and Robert – collectively known as Robron – to be one of the greatest soap couples ever.

The couple were torn apart in 2019 when Ryan Hawley decided to leave the show. His character’s final scenes saw him jailed after he turned himself in for the the attack on Lee Posner (Kris Mochrie), who had raped Victoria.

Since Danny Miller’s return to the Dales fans have hoped that Robert could also return to join Aaron, and Danny recently said that he gets asked every day whether it could happen.

‘I’d love to work with Ryan again but it’s just a case of whether I can talk him round,’ he told Inside Soap in October.

Fans will be hoping that the apparently casual mention of Robert’s name in this episode, and Aaron’s reaction to it, could signal a comeback for Robert.

‘So many Aaron spoilers for the next weeks made me think. Now I have a theory, and it’s absolutely not related to Robert #robron #emmerdale,’ speculated one person on X, formerly Twitter.

‘Robert and Aaron have been over for almost four years and my a** still isn’t over it. Robron, you were too iconic #emmerdale,’ said another.

And the general feeling was summed up in this tweet:

‘The best soap union ever.. off & onscreen chemistry will never be matched & no one else cud ever play Aaron & Robert like Danny & Ryan..two of the best 💖’