Steph's finally won us over, Marlon's minted, and where did Ness get Suzy's phone? This week's Emmerdale has been a mixed bag!

When soap is good it's better than anything else on television
Kerry Barrett
By Kerry Barrett

Our Emmerdale review this week is a mixed bag. We’ve been doing a lot of tutting at certain characters, BUT there was a lot to love about the performances this week.

Basically, buckle up, because we’ve got a lot to say.

Marlon attacks Dylan while April looks on in Emmerdale
Marlon’s feeling guilty about the way he treated Dylan (Credit: ITV)

Money-bags Marlon

First up, the ridiculous April/Dylan/Marlon fandango continued this week, with Marlon suddenly doing a 180 and announcing he would pay to send Dylan to rehab.

We do not know exactly how much residential rehab costs but we do know that it is pricey. Where’s Marlon going to find the money for this? Is he that minted that he can just throw thousands of pounds at a stranger?

Note to Marlon – if you’ve got cash floating around, maybe some sort of family therapy could be the thing to spend it on. Just saying.

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Also, how old is Dylan? Can strange adults just send teenagers to rehab without, you know, telling anyone?

April holding Rebecca's ashes on Emmerdale
April said goodbye to her baby in a heartbreaking scene (Credit: ITV)

April’s annoying – but amazing too!

Money-bags Marlon aside, April is continuing to act like she’s the boss of the whole family. She only seems to be going to school when she feels like it, and she’s apparently an expert in drug rehab now. Who knew?!

Anyway, she’s infuriating most of the time, and then OMG she just breaks out hearts all over again. April scattering her baby’s ashes was understated, sad and beautiful. A really memorable scene and Amelia Flanagan, who plays April, putting in another amazing performance.

Vanessa and Rhona
Vanessa tries to work out what’s been going on with Mary and Suzy (Credit: ITV)

Emmerdale review: Put a sock in it, Ness!

Another thing that’s been getting on our wick this week is Vanessa wailing about Suzy and Mary having a kiss.

We get that she’s sad about Suzy – it’s really tragic that she died. But any fool could see that Ness and Suzy were hardly love’s young dream.

And none of that’s Mary’s fault. Also, we’re bewildered by how Vanessa got hold of Suzy’s phone in the first place. We’ve always been Vanessa fans, but it’s hard right now!

Manpreet’s in trouble

Manpreet’s bad decisions continued as she tried to ignore the blackmailer who’s not actually asked for anything yet. And we’re convinced the worst of these decisions is her trusting Ella. Is she the one who’s tormenting Manpreet? We’d not be surprised if she turned out to be the blackmailer.

Steph Miligan in Emmerdale (Credit: ITV/Comp Emmerdale Insider)
It’s a LOT for Steph to deal with (Credit: ITV/Comp Emmerdale Insider)

Steph’s big reveal in our Emmerdale review

Of course the big story this week was Steph finding out the whole awful truth about her grandad. We’ve been quite honest about how absolutely annoying we have found Steph up until now, but this week we did a Marlon-style 180 when it comes to Ms Miligan.

As Ruby told her what had happened, Steph pieced things together and the horror of her biological dad being her grandad dawned on her.

It was a hard-watch, there’s no denying. It’s a hard storyline to process. This is huge with bleak, brutal consequences for Steph’s mental and physical health and we’re wondering if she can ever recover from this.

When it comes to this story though, the thing we keep coming back to, is how absolutely brilliant the performances have been. Georgia Jay, who plays Steph, knocked it out of the park this week, and so did William Ash, who plays Caleb.

And top of them all is Beth Cordingly. Her performance as Ruby has had us gripped since the moment she arrived in the village and never more than recently.

As lifelong soap fans we know from bitter experience how often the shows we love are dismissed or belittled. But when the soaps are good they are really good – better than anything else on the telly.

Emmerdale’s proved that recently with the brilliant limo crash and its aftermath and now with the Ruby/Steph fallout. And Beth Cordingly’s performances this week have been astonishingly good. We hope she wins all the awards for Ruby’s story. She deserves them!

Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale in 2025? A complete guide to departures, returns and new arrivals in the Dales

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

What do you think of our story? Visit our Facebook page @emmerdaleinsider for all the latest Emmerdale news, gossip and spoilers and let us know what you think!