Emmerdale Spoilers – Ross’s horror as April is kidnapped

Next week on Emmerdale, Ross is forced to relive one of his darkest days, as Jade turns to drastic measures to try and recoup her stolen cash.

Ross (Michael Parr) made a surprise return to the village four weeks ago, as the next opponent Billy (Jay Kontzle) was facing in his illicit fights.

Match organiser and underground boxing promoter Jade (Twinnie-Lee Moore) was furious when Billy subsequently won the fight, breaking an undefeated run for Ross, with both her and several important punters losing money.

Determined to ‘correct’ this undesired result, Jade demanded a rematch between the pair, and made it clear she was going to stop at nothing to get her own way.

With both men refusing to participate in another fight, Jade resorted to bringing in the heavies on Ross, threatening harm against ex Charity (Emma Atkins) and young son Moses (Arthur Cockcroft) if he didn’t comply.

Ross warned Billy exactly what Jade was capable of, and when Billy returned home he found that Jade had already tricked her way into the house and was sharing a bottle of wine with his wife Dawn (Olivia Bromley).

The ease at which Jade could get to their respective families duly noted, a now clued-in Dawn suggested to the pair that they go ahead with the fight in order to get Jade off their backs, fixed for Ross to win.

Billy reluctantly agreed to take a hit to his pride for the sake of his family, and Jade went on to bully Ross into holding the fight in the barn at Butlers when the planned venue fell through.

But as the event got underway, they were interrupted by the arrival of John (Oliver Farnworth), who claimed that he’d overheard someone calling the police out on the road (the reality being he’d tipped them off himself).

In the ensuing chaos as everyone rushed to leave, Jade’s bag of cash containing £10,000 was misplaced… or, more specifically, hidden in the straw bales by a wily Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb). Jade’s heavies bickered between themselves as they both denied responsibility for the loss, before being forced to leg it as officers descended.

Once the coast was clear, Mack gleefully retrieved the £10k whilst Jade went on the rampage, having Ross beaten before confronting an equally clueless Billy over the cash. After stating that they knew nothing about it, Dawn sent Jade on her way by threatening to call the police.

Jade has been strangely quiet ever since, but it soon becomes apparent that the matter isn’t forgotten.

Next week, Mack is enjoying the fruits of his labour, being able to provide for his family with the stolen cash. He’s particularly happy to be flaunting his closeness with stepson Moses to Ross.

Ross soon has other issues to worry about when Jade returns with a vengeance, still convinced that Ross is the one behind the theft. Despite Ross’s protests, Jade ominously hints at the dire fate awaiting him should he fail to return the £10k.

Accusations are soon being made over who really took the cash, with John inadvertently providing cover for a guilty Mack.

Jade is relentless in her pursuit of Ross however and her threats continue to mount against his loved ones. Jade’s clearly done her homework as she’s now including April (Amelia Flanagan), the daughter of Ross’s late girlfriend Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth).

“Ross knows that she’s a dangerous, sinister character,” Michael Parr told EverySoap at a recent press event. “I think he just doesn’t realise how deep the rabbit hole goes with her, and what she is willing to do to make sure that she wins and she gets her money back.”

Ross desperately tries to urge Charity to take Moses away from the village for a while until the heat dies down, but is frustrated when she refuses. Meanwhile, April is irritated when dad Marlon (Mark Charnock) refuses to let her go into town after school, and when a seemingly friendly Jade offers her a lift, April reluctantly accepts.

Ross’s worst fears are realised when he then receives a video call from Jade, revealing that she has kidnapped April!

“Ross has a great connection with April due to her being Donna’s daughter,” Mike explains. “So it’s very stressful for him. He feels like he’s some sort of big brother, paternal figure in her life, even though he hasn’t seen her for a little while. Even though it’s not his fault the money has gone missing, he still feels responsible for this happening.”

Despite not having Jade’s money to hand over, Ross is determined to head out on his own to rescue April and persuades Billy to let him borrow his car.

But when Jade sends him a map to where she’s holding April, Ross is deeply unsettled as he realises he’s heading to a place that holds a very painful memory—the multi-storey car park where Donna died in 2014…

Donna had returned to Emmerdale with April in early 2014, but was harbouring two big secrets—she was dying from lung cancer, and in order to secure funds for April’s future, she’d become a bent copper. She soon found herself hooking up with Ross, but the pair were out of their depth when they took on local criminal Gary North (Fergus O’Donnell).

Events reached a dramatic climax on the roof of the multi-storey when Donna attempted to apprehend Gary, only to find that he had brought backup.

As Gary threatened to harm Ross and made sickening threats towards a then 4-year-old April, Donna realised that she had no way out. If Gary went down, then he was going to ensure the corrupt cop went down with him.

Knowing that she was on borrowed time anyway, Donna made the ultimate sacrifice, handcuffing herself to Gary before hopping over the edge of the roof. After tearfully telling Ross that she loved him, she let go and plummeted to her death, dragging Gary with her.

Back in the present, Ross finds himself back on that same rooftop in an equally terrifying situation, as one of Jade’s henchmen holds a traumatised April near the edge.

“It brings back the worst memories,” Mike shares. “Seeing your first experience with love fall off a roof chained to a paedophile… it was quite a traumatic event for him!”

Ross is now in an impossible dilemma as Jade demands he return the money that he doesn’t have… will he manage to find a way out with April remaining unscathed?

---

Having been around during her introduction to the show back in 2014, Mike has particularly enjoyed working with 16-year-old Amelia Flanagan again.

“She’s a fine young actress and is becoming a real little adult,” Mike tells us. “It was so bizarre how amazing she was when she came in, she was six years old and she always knew her lines.

“She was so aware of what was going on and she’s really kept that up. She’s got a real good sense of humour too and you can joke around with her, she’s great to work with.”

At the time of talking to us, Mike had clocked up around forty episodes in his return to the show following an eight year absence, though there’s been quite some changes in that time.

“I mean, it’s different now because the Bartons are thin on the ground in terms of numbers,” he admits. “I’ve got no Quinny [Anthony Quinlan who played Ross’s brother Pete] backing me up. He was just like my older brother in real life and whilst don’t see each other as much as we used to, we’re still in touch.”

“But I love working with Nat J Robb, that’s always fun, she’s my on and off-screen aunt!”

Speaking of Ross’s future, Mike is in no hurry to have his character settle down into family life.

“I don’t want to see him fall in love and get married and then have kids,” he admits. “Ross’s USP is that he’s kind of a loner and he can attach into different people’s storylines. So I would like to keep him as a rogue.”

“I’ve done the baby thing with Arthur who plays Moses. It felt like he was two hours old the first time I had him in my arms, and that’s been good fun. I also can’t wait to see what happens to him as he gets older.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Ross has got this obnoxious gold chain. I want to get Moses one and get him a sovereign and start dressing us the same. And start us causing trouble together!”

Given the opportunity, there’s a particular character that Mike would love to see introduced, and he knows the ideal person to play her…

“There was this mythological Barton character called Nana Barton,” Mike explains. “This isn’t happening, but if Sue Johnston reads this, please come to Emmerdale! It would be my dream to work with you after watching you for so many years on Brookside and The Royle Family.

“I think she’s probably busy getting offers coming left, right and centre. But if I could cast anybody to play a character that hasn’t been in the show yet… evil Nana Barton!“