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Emmerdale plans special episode for Aaron in jail

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

From Digital Spy

Emmerdale fans will be seeing a whole lot more of Aaron Dingle, with a special standalone episode planned that will focus entirely on his prison ordeal.

It's been revealed that Aaron will be handed a shock one-year sentence and sent to jail next week, as he's forced to face the music for his brutal attack on Kasim Sabet.

Despite some very inaccurate reports suggesting that Aaron will be leaving Emmerdale as a result, he's actually going nowhere and there are plenty of scenes planned focusing on his life behind bars.

With Aaron also taking centre stage in his very own episode, there really is no reason to worry about him disappearing from our screens anytime soon.

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

Speaking at an Emmerdale press event, show producer Iain MacLeod told Digital Spy and other media: "I can tell you what we've got coming up is a really special standalone-type episode.

"It will be a bit like: 'A Day In The Life Of Aaron Dingle – Convict'. I've yet to see it, but the script was really fantastic.

"Although it's about a day in the life of Aaron, it's also a day in the life of that family. What's it like for somebody who's lost the man he loves to prison? What's it like for Liv, losing her older brother and father figure to prison? What's it like for Chas?

"It's quite topical as well. There are a lot of news issues around prison, prison life and the challenges people face in prison. So we just thought it was a really good opportunity to explore some of that using a really well-liked group of characters. That's coming up in the not-too-distant future."

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

Offering some more teasers, Iain continued: "The story for a while will feature Aaron in jail quite heavily. What we didn't want to do – and what sometimes happens in a soap – is put a popular character behind bars and then you never see them.

"If people just kept coming back and saying 'I've just been to see Aaron – he looks alright', it would just make you think that we couldn't actually go there with a camera crew, so we're just telling you about it instead.

"We just thought we shouldn't shy away from what it's like. Obviously Aaron's experiences with jail are numerous and complicated. We'll be touching upon the fact that Gordon took his own life in jail and that has its own – hopefully quite surprising – effect on how Aaron is able to cope in there."

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

Asked whether Aaron's fellow inmates will find out that he's Gordon's son, Iain replied: "I couldn't possibly comment, but you may not be far wrong in guessing that.

"The story becomes: 'Can he escape his past and can he get over his past? What impact does the struggle he has inside have on his family on the outside? And what degree does he feel able to be honest with them about what he's going through?'

"Robert, Liv and everyone else are worried sick about him. But however bad it gets in there, is it the right thing for Aaron to share it with them? It's only going to make it worse for them in terms of their level of anxiety.

"So it's big, complicated, interesting and feels very much of our time. With every news report that comes out, I feel more and more pleased that we've been able to do something in this area."

Iain also answered the burning question of why the show's team decided to put Aaron behind bars in the first place, especially with things going so well for Robron at the moment.

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

He said: "It's partly because we wanted to test Robert and Aaron. Obviously they love each other massively and the best way to see that is to test them and see them come through it.

"We also thought about Aaron's trajectory – in terms of his paranoia about Robert, the struggles he's had with Gordon and all the rest of it. It felt like the natural place for that to go in Aaron's personality was to express that as violence.

"We've seen that before and that attack on Kasim felt very natural and motivated. Once Aaron had done that, we thought as storytellers that we couldn't just make that go away. He has to face some consequence for that.

"So it was partly to test the relationship, test the family and tell a really topical modern story about prison life. Also, we felt Aaron had to face some consequences for throwing his fists about."

Emmerdale airs Aaron's sentencing on Thursday, February 23 at 7pm on ITV.


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