A dark cloud of sadness has settled on the village in the wake of Ethan’s (Emile John) untimely death. The former lawyer clutched his head and collapsed on the living room floor while having a heart to heart with his dad in Emmerdale.

Manpreet (Rebecca Sarker) desperately tried to revive him, but she failed, and he passed away in hospital, leaving Charles (Kevin Mathurin) to return home without his son and to break the bad news to Claudette (Flo Wilson).

Guilt is weighing on Charles that Ethan spent his last day on Earth preparing for jail after Charles dobbed him in.

If he hadn’t turned Ethan in, perhaps Ruby (Beth Cordingly) wouldn’t have found out his part in Nicky’s (Lewis Cope) accident, and she wouldn’t have hit him with the car.

Manpreet is struggling with the loss of Ethan and the effect it’s had on Charles and is as surprised to find herself confiding in Ruby.

Ruby is just as surprised. Believing herself to be the orchestrator of Ethan’s death having mowed him down with her car, she resolves to help this grieving family.

Ruby heads to the church where Charles finds her, and she offers a hand of comfort to the bereaved father.

Following the loss of Ethan, Ruby is desperate to revive her relationship with her own son and vows to turn herself in to the police to appease Nicky and get him back onside. As Ruby displays her vulnerability over this decision, Nicky can’t help but support her.

But none of this helps Charles, who is stood staring at the pit in the ground that will become Ethan’s final resting place.