Charity Dingle appeared to go into labour on Thursday night’s Emmerdale before it became apparent that a twist was on the way and fans were quick to praise the episode

Charity Dingle appeared to go into labour on Thursday night’s episode of Emmerdale ahead of an impending baby bombshell. The Woolpack barmaid, who has been played by Emma Atkins, was meant to be carrying the child of her granddaughter Sarah Sugden, and Sarah’s husband Jacob Gallagher, having offered to be a surrogate some months ago.

She has let most of the family think that this is the case, but after the embryo transfer appeared to not work, Charity got drunk and ended up sleeping with her ex Ross, but she has kept this news to herself all this time.

As the latest scenes played out on the Yorkshire-based serial, Charity decided to use her condition to mess with Joe Tate, who had discovered that his cows on Butler’s Farm had disappeared. Joe’s enemy, Cain Dingle, pretended not to know anything about the situation when pressed – but he was secretly aware, as he had organised for Belle to steal them so they could sell them on.

Matty reminded Joe that the bull had a tracker on it, and he set about tracking it down – much to the horror of the Dingle clan. Rushing down a country road to get to the bull, Charity had got there ahead of him and he caught her wincing in pain.

Asked what was wrong, she winced: “It’s just a little thing I like to call being in labour!” This forced Joe to abandon his plans, and it gave Belle the chance to remove the tracker from the bull and throw it into a tree. Joe panicked as Charity announced she might be crowning, and Joe had no clue what that meant.

Charity shot back: “It’s when they make me queen, what do you think it means? ! I think I need to get my pants off. You’re gonna have to help me!” Just then, Ross came on the scene and insisted on taking over, despite Charity’s protests.

Joe drove off and wished them luck as Charity was doubled over a car bonnet until he Joe was out of sight. Just then, a furious Charity revealed to Ross that she was never in labour in the first place. She raged: “I was distracting him. To keep him here. But now he’s gone because of you! So well done, Ross!”

All this time, Cain was in The Woolpack wondering if his plan to steal the cows and sell them, eventually intending to split the cash between Dingle’s Farm and Butler’s Farm had been successful. While all this had been going on, Chas Dingle had been getting Joe’s mother Kim Tate (Claire King) on her side by plying her with alcohol.

When the pair realised they had been outsmarted, Kim was furious and declared war on the Dingles as she said: “You know, I pitied you, and I let my guard down. But it’s now back up, and the gloves are off.” Chas and Charity didn’t seem too fazed though, and Chas even did an impression of a cow as Kim walked away.

Viewers had nothing but praise for the episode, who appreciated the way the comedy and farce had been weaved throughout. Taking to Reddit, one fan said: “It was so fun to watch, if they want to continue the Tate, Dingle, Sugden Rivalry then this is the way to go, not all that depressing blackmail crap. Today’s episode made such a difference from how dark and depressing the show has been recently.”

Another said: “Today’s episode was brilliant. Had me laughing so much. Lovely to see all the dingles working so well together and getting one over the enemy. Proper giggling at all the puns,” and a third wrote: “I can’t wait for the baby bombshell to drop!”