Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale star Mark Charnock has explained fresh tensions ahead for Marlon Dingle and Rhona Goskirk’s marriage.
The troubled couple take centre stage in Monday’s hour-long episode (February 3), as the pressure of April Windsor’s disappearance threatens to tear them apart.
Marlon is currently devoting all of his time to searching for his teenage daughter after she ran away from home at Christmas.
The show’s latest episode explores the devastating impact that Marlon’s search is having on his family, as he seems to be neglecting his other responsibilities to Rhona, Leo and Ivy.
Ross Barton and Paddy Dingle both encourage Marlon to take a step back for everyone’s sake, but Rhona is pushed to breaking point when her husband seems reluctant to listen.
Speaking about the emotional scenes, Mark commented: “Marlon is at the point now where he’s just taken his eye off everything else. It’s a really strange state of mind for him.
“He’s going out for such long hours, night and day. He’s not paying attention to Rhona, the kids or Paddy. He can only fixate on this one thing – even though he knows that he won’t see April when he’s physically looking around the streets.
“Marlon is totally isolated now. He can’t hear anybody, he won’t see anybody – he can’t do anything but walk the streets looking and it’s tragic.”
Discussing the impact on Marlon and Rhona’s marriage, Mark continued: “I think it’s really damaging. Rhona is worried about Marlon and his health, after what happened a couple of years ago.
“Rhona is trying to hold her family together, but she’s doing it on her own because Marlon isn’t involved anymore. Marlon has always professed that to be the thing that defines him the most, but he’s abandoned that.
“It’s definitely affecting Leo’s behaviour at school and his relationships in the house. So it affects Marlon’s family in a really negative way, but he can’t see anything beyond this tunnel that he’s walking down.
“As it’s been such a while since April went missing, Rhona just wants her family to have some moments of normality. She doesn’t mind Marlon going out but she wants him to do both. She’s right about that, but he just can’t do it.
“Paddy also has a real go at Marlon about his other responsibilities and how you can do both. He wants Marlon to remember who he is and what his family mean to him. It does prick Marlon’s conscience.”
Emmerdale has confirmed plans for a special episode focusing on April on Tuesday (February 4) after she’s finally found by the police.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
