Emmerdale viewers have watched on in abject horror as poor April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) has been swallowed up by Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) dark underworld.

The youngster was initially being groomed and manipulated by Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) into dealing drugs before being pushed into prostitution.

 

 

Since her now-boyfriend, Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) – who’d supported her traumatic time living on the streets – reappeared in the village, the two have forged a sweet relationship, and though Dylan initially tried to keep April away from his dark dealings with Ray, it was too late; Ray had already decided to induct her into the operation.

 

 

April’s first taste of dealing was to help protect her new boyfriend, though she was grossly outmatched by the conniving Celia, who, via Ray, saw to it that both of the teens became indebted to the criminal gang, with little means of escape, forced to take on increasingly darker jobs to pay off their debt.

 

 

April’s latest job, ‘entertaining’ one of Celia’s clients, ended in the apparent ‘fatality’ of the client. With nowhere else to turn, April was forced to call on her bosses for help. While Ray undertook the task of ‘disposing of the body’, Celia took the opportunity to make it perfectly clear to April that her debt had increased and that, despite April begging to be let go from the crime syndicate, Celia ‘owns’ her.

Celia and Ray have seen to it that April is isolated from her family. After an accident with the drug stash that she was selling resulted in her brother Leo Goskirk (Harvey Rogerson) taking an ecstasy tablet.

Stepmum Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) asked her to leave, and while dad Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) desperately wanted her to stay, April moved into grandad Bob Hope’s (Tony Audenshaw) B&B.

With April terrified that asking her dad for help would result in mass carnage, it seems she has nowhere to turn.

Viewers, however, have been longing for an old friend of April’s to discover the mess she’s been dragged into, somebody with much more experience with fighting fire with fire.

Ross Barton (Michael Parr) was previously involved in a relationship with April’s late mum, police officer Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth), who threw herself from a building while handcuffed to a dangerous gangster after learning she had a terminal illness.

Despite Ross’ complete aversion to staying within the confines of the law, the two had a fierce, loving bond, with Ross dedicated to keeping an eye on and protecting April after she passed away.

While Ross hasn’t played into April’s plot as of yet, besides a minor interaction in which it seemed that she may ask for help, Michael recently spoke on whether or not his alter-ego could come to April’s rescue on the Soap Scoop podcast.

‘I think that is starting to be released in the scripts soon, so I don’t know what’s going on with it, but we’ve always had a connection. She was such a talented little four-year-old [when she joined the show]. It was just like: ‘Well, she’s an amazing as a four-year-old. Where does it go?’ And now she’s basically the face of the show and she wins all the awards and stuff!’

‘So it’s more like, I’m grateful just to be part of her storylines now. We get on like a house on fire as well. She’s a very thoughtful young woman and it’s been a joy to watch her grow up. She’s still an amazing actress.’

Would Ross think twice about crossing someone as dangerous as Celia and her subordinate-cum-adoptive son, Ray? According to Michael…nope!

‘I imagine when Ross does find out, there’s going to be hell to pay. I love working with Joe and Jaye as well. I think if Ross is provoked and you hurt the wrong people around him, the old Ross is gonna come out.

‘I did see a comment online the other day that said ‘Ross is a creep and a sociopath’. Ross has shot people, so he’s not one to be trifled with! Ross’s thing is that he’s physically violent. He’s a good fighter and he’s not scared of anyone. He’s just not that smart!