Emmerdale’s ongoing and controversial storyline featuring Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry), Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) and Gus Malcolms (Alan McKenna) has sparked a huge conversation among the audience.
It centres around Rhona, who has been caring for baby Ivy. The little girl was born last year after Gus stole a frozen embryo of Rhona’s, which allowed his partner Lucy to get pregnant.
This means that while Rhona is Ivy’s biological mother, she isn’t her legal one.
After Lucy’s death, Gus asked Rhona to look after Ivy while he got himself back on track. Of course, Rhona jumped at the chance of connecting with her daughter and spending a lot of time with her, but she knew in the back of her mind she’d have to face the day where Gus would come back, ready to look after Ivy again.
Yesterday (February 8) in the ITV soap, returning Gus broke the news he was planning on moving to France and will take Ivy with him.
When Marlon returned home after his shift, he realised that an emotional Rhona had packed her bags and drove off with the baby, prompting mother-in-law Mary Goskirk (Louise Jameson), best mate Paddy Dingle (Dominic Brunt) and friend Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough) to join his search party.
Things went from bad to worse when Gus returned looking for Ivy, with Marlon convincing him to allow her to spend one more night in Emmerdale before he went to France.
Rhona was last seen driving off into the night with Ivy in the back seat. It was a desperate move from the mother, which created quite the reaction on social media, with many fans branding Rhona ‘selfish’ over prioritising little Ivy over son Leo and stepdaughter April (Amelia Flanagan).
Actress Zoe Henry recently reflected on these scenes. She explained Rhona’s mentality behind taking Ivy, and admitted the decision was made under ‘primal panic’.
‘This is my child and you’re gonna take her to France and I’m never gonna see her again,’ she said during an episode of This Morning, ‘so, something guttural kicks in.’
‘We know a little in advance but not too much’, Zoe added, reflecting on the length of this storyline.
‘This story’s never really been told so, legally, Emmerdale has had to tread carefully and plan so I’m not sure if they know the ending yet’ she said.
’It’s quite a weird one.’
