VINNY Dingle is in for the shock of his life as he discovers his new mate ‘Alex’ is actually his estranged father Paul Ashdale next week in Emmerdale.
The young lad unknowingly met his dad Paul – who abandoned him as a baby – when he got a job working at the scrapyard to spy on Vinny.
Emmerdale viewers were stunned when Mandy was offered a lift by Paul on the night of Lydia’s catastrophic hen do after falling in a ditch.
Having not seen her old flame since he abandoned Vinny as a baby and left her to look after him, Mandy was unsurprisingly horrified by his appearance.
Refusing to believe that he’d changed, Mandy banished him from the village and lied that Vinny no longer lived there.
But Paul rocked up at the scrapyard shortly after Mandy told him to scarper and pretended to be a guy called ‘Alex’ – a move that was surely bound to end in disaster.
Viewers were flabbergasted when Paul’s face didn’t set off alarm bells for Vinny despite being his long-lost Dad.
But Vinny didn’t have a clue and has taken such a liking to his new mate ‘Alex’ that Lydia and Mandy start to wonder whether this mystery person is Vinny’s girlfriend in scenes set to air later this week.
Next week’s episodes of Emmerdale will see things escalate as Vinny chats to his new mate ‘Alex’ at the Dingles.
But disaster strikes when Paul slips up and makes a careless comment suggesting he already knows Mandy.
When a confused Vinny questions him, Paul does his best to cover but the seeds of doubt have already been sown in Vinny’s mind.
As Paul leaves, Mandy spots him but hides before he can see her.
Left seething, Mandy sets up a meeting with Paul from Vinny’s phone.
Paul’s stunned the next day when Mandy arrives rather than Vinny.
Tension is quick to build between the former lovers as Mandy berates him for lying to Vinny about his identity and orders him to stay away.
Later, Paul storms into the Dingles to talk to Mandy, but he’s lost for words when Vinny stumbles upon the scene.
Mandy does her best to come up with an excuse, but it all kicks off as Paul reveals he’s Vinny’s dad.
Vinny is left fuming at his dad’s – and Mandy’s – lies and storms out, refusing to speak to them for another second.
As the Dingles search for Vinny in the wake of his disappearance, Mandy worries she’ll have lost him forever.
Can Vinny ever forgive her for lying?
And will he forgive Paul?
Bradley Johnson – who plays Vinny – hinted at how devastated Vinny will be when he realised everyone had been lying to him.
He told Digital Spy: “Paul comes to the scrapyard calling himself ‘Alex’ and Vinny just thinks he’s a random guy. Vinny sees him as a friend – someone he can have a laugh with.
“That all adds to the tension, as the whole thing is bound to explode when Vinny finds out. It’s brilliant because there’s so many different secrets.
“Vinny has no idea that Mandy has already seen Paul. Mandy also doesn’t know that Paul is still in the village.
“That’s why, when Vinny does find out, it’s sure to be a massive bombshell. All I’m going to say is that it’d be pretty explosive.”
Bradley added that the truth will test his relationship not only with his dad but also with Mandy.
He added: “I feel like it would upset Vinny, because things are finally going well for him. He’s finally got a purpose and a place where he feels happy.
“If anything disturbs that, he’s going to lose his cool a little bit. He’d want answers over what happened all those years ago.
“There’s so much of Vinny’s past that the audience don’t know. I think he’d also be annoyed that he’s been lied to by Mandy.”
