EMMERDALE viewers were in for a surprise on Thursday night when a familiar face made an unexpected comeback.
Arthur Thomas (Alfie Clarke) has returned to the village after several months away, leaving fans stunned by his dramatically different appearance.
The teen, who had been traveling in Australia, came back to discover there had been upheaval in Emmerdale during his absence.
Arthur missed out on the explosive fallout between his mother Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) and her estranged husband Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson).
The couple is currently going through a divorce just months after getting married, due to Jai’s controversial actions involving his biological father Amit (Anil Goutam) and his half-brother Suni Sharma (Brahmdeo Shannon Ramana).
Arthur’s last on screen appearance was back in March, around the time his close friend Heath Hope (Sebastian Dowling) tragically died in a car accident.
Upon his return to the Thomas household in Mulberry, Arthur awkwardly interrupted an intimate moment between Gabby Thomas and Vinny Dingle, who are now a couple.
And the drama didn’t stop there.
Arthur went on to catch wind of the ongoing tension between his mum and Jai.
After becoming concerned about his mum’s wellbeing when she nearly fainted in front of him, he confronted her ex husband, expressing his frustration over the stress Laurel has been under since the divorce proceedings began.
Even though his mum reassured Arthur that she is just in the process of recovering from her heart attack, he made it clear that he blames Jai for the strain on her health.
Although Arthur immediately got involved in a couple of big storylines, viewers were much more taken aback by his appearance than what he had to say to Jai.
Fans of the ITV soap flocked to social media to comment on how drastically the teen has changed from when he was last on the show.
One person wrote: “Arthur is ten years older than when he left.”
Another questioned: “Is this a new Arthur, or is it just the fringe?”
A third joked: “Arthur’s returned from his holibobs and suddenly thinks he’s a hardman. Love it.”
