Emmerdale's Mark Charnock teases Lisa Riley's 'revelatory' return storyline

Emmerdale stalwart Mark Charnock, who’s been playing Marlon Dingle since 1996, dropped several major hints about Lisa Riley’s return storyline.

Mandy Dingle (played by Riley) returned to the ITV soap after 18 years away on Friday. And today Charnock described her return as ‘revelatory.’

Speaking to Lorraine on ITV this Monday, Charnock teased how her return would be filled with ‘twists and turns’ and that a major revelation would eventually come to light.

“I can tell you, the bits I’ve shot with her are revelatory, with lots of twists and turns in it. And all thanks to Mandy, god damn it,” he said.

Mandy returned to the village with her teen son, Vinny, on Friday evening – and viewers are already speculating that he could be the child of her ex-husband – Paddy Kirk.

When prodded by Lorraine about this online theory Charnock admitted that while it’s a possibility, Mandy’s secret could also be something else entirely.

“She had so many connections through the village but especially Paddy.

“I can’t say too much because there’s been a lot of assumptions made on Twitter and it could be that, but it could be something else,”‘ he added.

Mandy Dingle is one of the soap’s most infamous and indeed beloved characters. The feisty Dingle was known for her bubbly personality and rather unlikely marriages to her first cousin Butch Dingle and then Emmerdale’s vet-in-residence Paddy Kirk.

Fleeing the Yorkshire Dales village in 2001 after an ill-fated affair with her college lecturer while still married to Paddy, she stunned both viewers and the Emmerdale villagers when she returned Friday night.

Her long-awaited comeback was supposedly to attend her cousin Marlon’s official wedding to headteacher Jessie Grant.

But could she be back for a far greater reason? Based on Charnock’s cryptic yet telling words today, this is surely the case.

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