Emmerdale Spoilers – Dylan’s dark secret is exposed

This week on Emmerdale, Paddy, Rhona and Marlon realise that Dylan was one of the intruders breaking into Butlers, as Dylan desperately tries to cut ties with Ray.

There was a surprise return in Emmerdale last week as Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) reappeared in the village after a four-month absence – but it quickly became clear he hadn’t left his troubles behind.

Dylan’s reappearance raised eyebrows when April (Amelia Flanagan) discovered a nasty wound on his leg. It didn’t take long for the truth to come out – Dylan had been one of the masked intruders at Butlers earlier in the week, and had been stabbed by 13-year-old Kyle (Huey Quinn), who had lashed out while trying to scare them off.

Dylan had been sent by Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), the man who bought Lewis’s (Bradley Riches) weed crop from Robert (Ryan Hawley), to check whether there were any more plants growing in the barn.

Though Dylan claimed he’d turned over a new leaf since rehab and was now living clean in a flatshare in Hotten, April later found him camped out in the village cricket pavilion. Realising he was injured, she cleaned his wound as best she could – but Dylan refused to go to A&E.

This week, April returns to find Dylan in a bad way, shivering and clearly in pain.

With nowhere else to turn, she sneaks him into the vets’ surgery in a desperate attempt to treat him without raising suspicion.

“She’s going to try and do whatever she can to heal it,” Fred Kettle told EverySoap and other press recently. “Whether that’s a bit of cream, stitches, etc. But then Paddy (Dominic Brunt) ends up walking in, seeing Dylan for the first time in ages, and he’s like ‘What is going on?’”

Paddy (Dominic Brunt) is stunned to find Dylan there but quickly switches into vet mode, helping treat the injury.

Once he learns that Dylan is homeless, he offers him a place to stay with him and Mandy (Lisa Riley) for the night.

However, Mandy and Marlon (Mark Charnock) are less than thrilled when they arrive to find Dylan at the cottage, leaving Paddy with some explaining to do. With tensions still lingering over Marlon’s previous decision to plant drugs on Dylan, the two men remain frosty with one another.

“Despite Marlon knowing that Dylan helped her on the streets and things, at the end of the day, he’s not the best lad,” Fred admits. “I think when Marlon pictured his daughter hanging around with friends, it wouldn’t be with Dylan, especially with his past.”

“He’s going to be protective over her, which is understandable and I think it’s for Dylan to not try and persuade him to think a certain way, but just let it simmer and relax a little bit. But it is awkward between them both, especially with Marlon having planted drugs on him and things.”

“They try to avoid each other a little bit,” Fred adds. “But then I also think Marlon feels bad, despite him trying to protect his daughter.”

Later in the week, Ray reappears with talk of more work, and we see that Dylan has a stash of drugs hidden in his backpack. Though he tries to resist Ray’s influence, the manipulative dealer continues to reel him in.

“Since Dylan came out of rehab, he was supposed to be going to hostels to sort of rejuvenate and things,” Fred explains. “But everyone at the hostel was taking drugs themselves, and Dylan just wanted to avoid that.”

“He wants to take himself out of situations where he knows he’ll go back down south, and it’s Ray that actually helps him and takes him under his wing. I feel like there’s a little bit of a son-father figure relationship going on, and Ray’s trying to gain trust… to make Dylan deal drugs, basically!”

Despite ignoring Ray’s messages the next morning, Dylan’s hopes of staying under the radar begin to slip away as Paddy, Rhona (Zoe Henry), and Marlon start to piece things together and realise he was the intruder at Butlers.

As Dylan carries out a secret drop-off for Ray, April remains in the dark – and back at The Woolpack, Paddy and Marlon urge Rhona to keep quiet and not tell Moira (Natalie J Robb) what they’ve discovered.

Later, Dylan’s left ashamed when Paddy and Marlon reveal they know how he really got his injury.

But just as he tries to move on, he’s being watched from the shadows – with Ray keeping a close eye on him.

“Ray’s manipulating him,” Fred continues. “It’s a weird contrast. Dylan knows he’s doing the wrong thing, but it’s better than what he was doing when he was on the streets.”

By the end of the week, Dylan continues to ignore Ray’s calls… but how long will it be before Ray decides to make his next move?