Charity Dingle's secret about the true parentage of baby Leyla is set to explode in Emmerdale, with the truth threatening to destroy her relationship with granddaughter Sarah Sugden.
The situation began when Charity offered to be a surrogate for Sarah and her husband Jacob after Sarah's adoption plans were halted due to her Fanconi anaemia. Shortly after the embryo transplant, Charity slept with Ross Barton after an argument with her husband Mackenzie Boyd. A DNA test later revealed the baby was Charity and Ross's.
Who knows the truth?
Few villagers have discovered the truth so far: Ross knows, Mack knows, Vanessa Woodfield knows, and Chas Dingle knows. Another villager, Dr Caitlin Todd, learned the secret and blackmailed Charity over it, but she will not be divulging what she knows because she is dead.
After learning that Dr Todd raped her grandma, Sarah shoved her, causing her to hit her head on a table and die. Charity decided to take the blame for the crime.
Charity's guilt and instinct
Emmerdale producer Sophie Roper said the decision is partly fuelled by guilt. She told Metro: 'I think that decision in the first moment is very much instinctive of the need to protect her granddaughter, and knowing that Sarah has this life ahead of her, and will she be able to cope if the consequences of what happened might result in her incarceration?'
She added: 'And I think Charity thinking, 'I could take the blame for this. I could handle this,' is probably where that first instinct comes from, but of course mixed in with all of that is that secret that she's carrying. So, absolutely, I think that will play a part in her thought process.'
What the truth would do to Sarah
Actor Katie Hill said the truth would be cataclysmic for Sarah: 'It would destroy her whole world.' She continued: 'Charity has given her the best gift she ever could have asked for, so, for that to be taken away from her, it will definitely cause issues in their relationship.'
Sophie added: '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 we've never seen before.'
Baby Leyla's future
Katie said it is unclear how Sarah would feel about baby Leyla if the truth came out. She said: 'I don't know. It's the type of thing that we won't know until we know, because it's a massive thing. She's raised this baby since she was born. That love can't just go away. The biological side of things has changed, but you don't just stop loving a child that you've raised. Once it does all come out, we'll see Sarah go through that.'
Sophie expanded on Sarah's likely reaction: 'I think Katie's right that biology is one part of this, but she will have viewed that daughter as absolutely hers, and I think that's the strength of the mother's love that Sarah has for that child. Ultimately there will be moments of, 'I wish things might have been different.' There's lots to reconcile with, but I think it's lovely to see Sarah's character evolve over recent months and years, and she is now a mother embarking on this next stage of her life and the next stage of the character. I think, in the similar way that we've got Charity so protective over Sarah, Sarah will absolutely take on that Dingle trait for her daughter as well.'
