Emmerdale spoilers: Devastating exit storyline confirmed for Rhona Goskirk as she reaches shock decision
It looks like Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) could be set to leave Emmerdale in upcoming episodes, as the beloved character is driven to take extreme action.
Rhona recently left the village in a desperate bid to avoid losing baby Ivy. The child, born after her dad Gus (Alan McKenna) used embryos that he and Rhona had had frozen years previously, is biologically Rhona’s although in UK law she has no legal rights because she wasn’t the baby’s birth mother.
Rhona’s attachment to Ivy increased in the weeks since Christmas, when Gus left Ivy at Smithy Cottage when he couldn’t cope with looking after his daughter.
Since then the whole family have grown to love Ivy, but for Rhona it’s a bond that goes very deep. She was devastated when Gus said he was ready to have his child back permanently.
‘As a mother myself, I go back to the word primal – it’s that primal instinct of “I can’t be separated from her,”’ Zoe Henry told us. ‘I think that would be torture for Rhona, knowing that Ivy’s not with her and is never going to be with her but is alive and living a life somewhere else.’
So Rhona’s response to the thought of losing Ivy was to take the baby and vanish from the village, hiding out in a holiday cottage.
In upcoming episodes, she decides what she’s going to do next. While Marlon (Mark Charnock), Mary (Louise Jameson) and Gus are desperate for news of her, the only person Rhona has contacted is her dear friend Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick).
Vanessa has recently returned from Canada – and Rhona shocks her by telling her that her plan is to move to Canada herself, along with Ivy. She asks Vanessa to help her organise the move. This will mean abandoning Marlon and her son Leo (Harvey Rogerson) and stepdaughter April (Amelia Flanagan) and turning her back on her career as a vet.
It will also be incredibly risky, as Rhona has no legal claim to Ivy and as far as the law is concerned has kidnapped the child.
‘This has come from somewhere deeper inside her,’ Zoe Henry pointed out.
‘I think she’s gone on to autopilot and has gone “I need to keep this baby.” She’s an intelligent woman, she knows the consequences of kidnap. So it comes from nowhere but it comes from the heart as well.’
Vanessa calls Marlon in a desperate attempt to get her friend to see sense. With Marlon heading towards Rhona’s location, will he be in time to save her from making a massive mistake?
