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Watch out Emmerdale! Emma Barton is going nowhere

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

From Digital Spy

Emmerdale's Emma Barton was back to her wicked ways by committing arson this week – but you may be surprised to hear that there are still no firm plans for her comeuppance.

Ever since Emma caused a huge motorway pile-up and accidentally killed her own husband James in spectacular scenes last year, fans have suspected that she'll have to be written out at some point.

Soap villains usually face the consequences of their crimes sooner or later, but it seems that Emmerdale's team are keen to keep Gillian Kearney's twisted character in the village for as long as possible.

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

Asked by Digital Spy about a possible comeuppance for Emma, Emmerdale's producer Iain MacLeod replied: "The soap gods are currently adjudicating on that and they haven't made their ruling yet!

"Fundamentally, no bad deed goes entirely unpunished, but what form that punishment takes is very much still to be decided.

"I love the character and I love Gillian, so I'm in absolutely no rush. I think Emma is quirky, odd and brilliant and the fact that she can go from scolding the boys for not washing the dishes to pushing James off a bridge just makes her an invaluable character.

"I don't know what the outcome will be with all of that. Robert killed someone – and he's still in the show. So being responsible for someone's death, especially when it wasn't a cold blooded murder, doesn't necessarily mean you have to end up behind bars.

"Obviously there's an appetite for justice from viewers when something bad is done. You can't ignore that, but equally comeuppance can come in many forms. So it's just a case of deciding what form that might take and when it might happen."

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

Emma's latest bad behaviour saw her set fire to one of the Bartons' cabs to frame Kasim Sabet, so is she heading on another downward spiral?

Asked whether Emma will get worse, Iain pointed out: "She's already been pretty peak crazy, hasn't she? I don't know about worse, but there'll certainly be more big drama to come. We're already storylining the beginnings of her conscience eating away at her, so we want to explore what she has done.

"Whether we try to top it or not, I don't know yet – we're still in the planning stage. The joy of Emma is that she can kind of do anything – she could go and run the pub quiz and it would be the most terrifying pub quiz that the Dales has ever seen.

"I'm really reluctant to do anything that nails her fate down in one direction or another just yet."

Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.


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