Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) is struggling at the moment in Emmerdale. Ever since she shot evil Damon âHarryâ Harris (Robert Beck) to save Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb), sheâs been suffering under the pressure of the guilt of actually killing someone.
The police are satisfied that the shooting was an accident so Charity wonât face an legal consequences, but itâs the psychological consequences sheâs struggling with. She canât cope with being alone and puts the radio on as soon as sheâs by herself and sheâs jumpy and on edge.
Old traumas also resurfaced for her in Monday (August 8)âs episode, as a visit from her newly-discovered grandson Oscar (Harley Hamilton) brought up the subject of Ryan (James Moore)âs father, Mark Bails (Rocky Marshall).
Charity suffered months of rape and abuse from Bails when she was only 14. By the time she managed to escape she was pregnant with Ryan.
Charityâs struggle continued
Obviously this was not a part of the family history that she wanted to tell Oscar, and in fact she didnât even want to think about Bails at all. She told Mackenzie that every time she thought she was done having to talk about Bails, who died last year, something else came up.
For once Mackenzie had some sensible advice and told her to âKeep it simple. Some things are better left unsaid.â
Oscar is a very bright boy. Charity told him only that Bails was ânot a nice man,â but wouldnât say much more. But when Oscar asked her how old she was and she told him she was about to turn 48, Oscar did the maths and worked out something of what had happened. Sensitively he simply said that he was glad Ryanâs dad wasnât around any more.
Later, Charity was again home alone after Mackenzie went off to meet Aaron (Danny Miller) â Mackenzie seems to be dealing with his own trauma by being out all the time and getting into criminal activities with Aaron.
Luckily Noah (Jack Downham) came back so Charity had some company, but as he settled down for a game on his Playstation the sound of gunfire filled the room.
And Charity, whoâd been washing up, had a flashback to the moment when she was face to face with Harry and the gun went off.
For once not wearing the marigolds that she usually wears in times of stress, a panicking Charity suddenly realised sheâd cut herself on something and was bleeding.
Charityâs default setting is to try to tough things out and deal with them on her own, as sheâs had to do ever since the awful trauma inflicted on her by Bails. Obviously thatâs not working for her now. Will she be able to reach out for help?
