Serena Sugden (Casey Al-Shaqsy) was left 'screaming' in Emmerdale as her secret connection to DS Thea Ramsden (Chelsea Edge) was exposed. The detective is investigating Dr Caitlin Todd's (Caroline Harker) death, and it has now been confirmed that Serena and Thea are close friends.
Serena's secret visits
In tonight's episode, viewers saw Serena head into the local police station to visit someone, with it highly possible that she was seeing DS Ramsden. This comes after Kev Townsend (Chris Coghill) recognised Serena from her time behind bars and told Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) that his relative is a copper. Serena later stated she doesn't actually work as a police officer anymore but still has connections there.
Star Casey Al-Shaqsy explained more about the relationship: 'They are very, very close friends. Serena's sort of journey into the village was to see her family. She does want to get closer with her family. But she's mentioned to her best mate, "I'm going to Emmerdale". And she's gone "I need you to do me a favour".'
Keeping Thea's secret
The actress added: 'So whilst all the drama's happening with her own life, she is then doing her usual Serena way and is looking out for somebody else and trying to get all this information for her. Obviously, we can't get into why yet, but she didn't know that Ramsden was on the case.'
'So when she turns up at the village, it's kind of like you're kind of ruining everything here. And it wasn't Serena's choice to make it a secret; it was Thea's. She's trying her best to keep the secret like Thea wanted her to. But she's also like now you're here working on a case that I'm involved in; you're making my life very difficult right now.'
'And there's going to be times it's going to be trials and tribulations between them because it's like you're literally putting me in such an awkward position. But it works out.'
Friction ahead
As Serena battles to protect Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) in the aftermath of Dr Todd's demise, Casey teased that her character will face conflict with multiple characters: 'I've been watching my stuff, and I'm thinking, she's bloody miserable. But also, how do you lighten up? All she does is care about other people and do stuff for other people. But if you watch the show, when's the last time you see anyone do anything for her other than give her a place to stay? Everyone is always asking things of her, and she's always doing things for other people.'
'Thea tries to help her a little bit as well, but that's only because there's something in it for her. She gets a bit of friction with Sarah. She gets a bit of friction with Thea. And then the friction for her with her family, it is just like, this is something else!'
She added: 'I always say Serena doesn't lie; she just doesn't tell people the whole truth. She tells the truth, but leaves bits out, and that's what gets her into trouble. She knows that's upset people in the past, and now she's keeping another secret because it isn't hers to tell; it's Thea's.'
Sarah's guilt
Dr Todd died after a confrontation with Sarah and Charity. Sarah pushed Caitlin at one point which resulted in her falling, hitting her head, and dying seconds later. Forced to keep quiet, Sarah isn't exactly the sort of person who can keep this dark secret hidden and not let her guilt eat away at her. Already on edge, there's every possibility Sarah could just blurt out the truth to the police, and tell them that Serena helped cover Todd's death up.
Revealing more about Serena's mindset in the coming weeks, Casey said: 'She might look cool. She always looks cool. But you know, those little cutaways, when you see her take a breath, you see her in those moments, she's not happy. She knows how fragile she is and how fragile the case now is for her. Because she's thinking, as much as I talk her down, there's a chance that she's gonna still say something.'
'I do feel bad for Katie [Hill]', she added. 'Watching me say it to Katie, it feels horrible because I'm just screaming at her all the time. You really do see the rough sides of Serena with Sarah coming up. I think it's just making a lot of problems.'
