Emmerdale producer Sophie Roper has teased a busy autumn ahead, with major twists including legal consequences for Sarah Sugden, a test for Charity Dingle and Mack Boyd's marriage, and the truth about baby Leyla finally coming out. New spoilers, from a chat with the Mirror and other press, also suggest the Sugden family will be re-established as a key part of the show.
Sarah's future sealed
Discussing Sarah's storyline after she accidentally killed villain Dr Todd, Sophie said: "Through the course of this story we see the consequences of what Sarah has done, and we'll look at that from a legal standpoint. We'll also look at that from, how she'll view herself and actually how she struggles to confront that trauma and how she struggles to deal with that."
She added: "It's not a simple story of justice by any means, and it's complicated of course as many people might say it's the justice that Todd deserved, and it opens all of that debate as well, but that's something we'll look at and we'll explore through the course of the story."
Sophie continued: "Through soap we will always try to find that there's consequences, those things that you might lose as a result of doing something wrong, as the soap gods would call it. But I think this story is one that is driven by truth, it's driven by emotion, I think we'll ground it in family and life and everything that Sarah has to face."
She confirmed: "But absolutely there will be some legal consequences to this as we go through, that will take on lots of different twists and turns, so I think as you watch and you see the story unfold, we do skew expectations. There will be unexpected developments in this story that hopefully keep it engaging and it exciting as we go through."
New scenes for the Sugdens
On Serena Sugden, Sophie teased: "Serena's a really fantastic new character within the show, and I think we're absolutely re-establishing our wonderful clans and the Sugdens being a huge part of the show and the rural community that we enjoy and celebrate on the show."
She noted Serena's police background, saying: "Serena also has a police background, so it was really interesting to include her in this dynamic with Sarah and Charity. I think as well, it's three incredibly strong women all holding their own in how you deal with this impossible situation that presents."
Sophie added: "She is an incredibly moral character, Serena, and I think there's a lot of trust between these three women that we potentially will go on to test as the story develops, but she's a brilliant addition to all of this material and it absolutely embeds her in the Sugden clan and embeds her in that relationship of course between Sarah and Serena, as Sugdens."
Mack and Charity future
Asked if Charity's marriage to Mack Boyd will survive the drama, Sophie said: "I would say it will test them! This is a relationship where I feel Mack often is the one that's having to respond to potentially bad decisions that his wife has made."
She added: "They're an incredibly strong couple, and we will fight for them to find a way through it, because I think for everything that Charity's been through, for everything that they've done to one another, you know, it's been a really kind of dramatic marriage and a dramatic relationship and they've faced a lot."
Sophie concluded: "But I think where they're at their best is when they unite to overcome things together. I think we'll test them, but overall it would be great to see them overcome that."
Baby Leyla secret revealed
On whether Sarah and Charity can move past the truth about baby Leyla, who is actually Charity's daughter not Sarah's, Sophie said: "It's going to test them. This is the ultimate betrayal, and this is a relationship and a dynamic where they are so important in each other's lives, and there's so much trust and love and respect that ultimately, I think it will test both of those characters in ways that we've never seen before."
Sarah actress Katie Hill added: "It'll just destroy her whole world. Charity's given her the best gift she ever could have asked for, so for that to be taken away from her, it'll definitely cause issues with their relationship."
Charity's prison fate teased
Sophie appeared to confirm that Charity wouldn't be in prison for long. Asked about Charity and Sadie King scenes, with Sadie returning soon, Sophie teased: "They will be living in the same village, so I guess stay tuned and see whether there's old histories reignited there."
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
