EMMERDALE fans were left gobsmacked after last night’s episode, which saw one of the “show’s most iconic villains” Emma Barton make a shock return to the soap.
Emma (Gillian Kearney) had a long-running feud with Moira Dingle (Natalie J. Robb), which ended with the villain’s death in 2017.
Emma fell from the viaduct after accidentally killing her son Finn and confessing to Moira that she had murdered James during another explosive barn fire.
On Monday (September 9), Emma returned to the Dales to remind Moira of that fateful night.
Moira hallucinated the villain while talking to Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly), who she holds at gun point.
Moira then fought with Ruby, believing her to be Emma, sparking the fire.
Before the blaze began, Caleb wrongly told Cain that Moira and Nate had kissed. After confronting his wife, Moira said that Cain was being “paranoid and ridiculous” however he continued to have his suspicions due to Moira and Nate’s previous affair.
This caused the pair to have a huge blow up that ended with Moira calling time on their relationship.
Arriving in the barn to gloat, Ruby became slightly sorry for Moira when she’s unresponsive to her jibes.
As stressed Moira spilled tractor fuel in the barn, Ruby’s voice began to blur with her old nemesis, Emma Barton, and an unrecognisable Moira raised her shotgun at a freaked out Ruby.
Soon padlocking the barn, a stressed Moira continued to see Emma instead of Ruby.
She fired a warning shot into the air, frightening Ruby. The shot hit a light bulb, which caused a spark to take hold.
A tussle for the shotgun ended with Moira giving Ruby a blow to the head.
Hazy and shaken, Moira comes out of her daze and is soon confused to see Ruby lying on the floor rather than Emma.
The spark caught the tractor fuel and quickly became a blaze as Moira froze, helpless next to an unresponsive Ruby.
Emmerdale viewers were shocked to see the scene play out as Emma’s return was a huge shock.
Played by Natalie J. Robb, Moira has become one of Emmerdale's most prominent characters since her debut in 2009.
AFFAIR WITH CAIN DINGLE
In October 2011, Moira began an affair with Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), whom she had previously loathed.
At the time, she was married to first husband and childhood sweetheart John (James Thornton).
JOHN’S DEATH
In the characters’ backstory, John and Moira had been married since 1990. They shared three children: Adam, Hannah (now Matty) and Holly.
While John struggled to forgive Moira’s infidelity, he also realised he couldn’t live without her.
Ultimately, the character of John was written out by having a car accident and fatal cardiac arrest.
Afterwards, Moira and Cain began a relationship and later married.
ADAM’S PATERNITY
It transpired that Cain was not the first man that Moira had an affair with.
She previously slept with John’s brother James (Bill Ward) – with the revelation that he is her son Adam’s biological father.
MURDER OF EMMA BARTON
James’ estranged wife Emma (Gillian Kearney) was introduced as a soap villain, reuniting with her clan after two decades.
In October 2017, Emma was killed off in a who-dunnit storyline after being pushed off a viaduct.
She reappeared one last time in December 2017 for a flashback, where her killer was revealed to be archenemy Moira.
Teasing the scene on X, formerly Twitter, the official Emmerdale account shared stills of the explosive scene and wrote: “A blast from Moira’s past.”
Responding to the tweet, one gobsmacked viewer wrote: “What the!!!!!!!”
“So good did not expect to see that face again,” said another Emmerdale fan, praising the episode.
A third added: “Such a great episode tonight, a late night catch up now too. Omg Emma woah, that was a blast. It’s gonna be a big week in the village.”
While a fourth fan admitting they were hoping that Moira may not have been hallucinating at all: “I saw this before tonight’s episode and thought maybe Emma was still actually alive and has been poisoning Moira, but Moira just imagining seeing her? This week seems like it’ll be a good one in the Dales! It’s not even super soap week?!”
“Bring her back!” begged another.
Praising the return of Emma, a sixth fan said: Emma was one of the most iconic villains ever on Emmerdale. She was an unintentional serial killer and manipulated the entire village. “
“This was truly brilliant. Genius, in fact. I just don’t have enough words to express how GOOD Emmerdale is at the minute. Superb performances from all,” commented another.
The drama of the fiery blaze is set to continue during Wednesday night’s episode as the soap has been pulled from screens on Tuesday as part of an ITV schedule shake-up.
Viewers are hoping to see their favourite characters survive the blaze and find out what’s causing Moira’s seizures and uncharacteristic behaviour.
