Emmerdale viewers were in agreement over the way the ITV soap concluded a major storyline involving Ray and Celia.

Jaye Griffiths and Joe Absolom made their Emmerdale debut last year as Celia Daniels and Ray Walters. While Celia was introduced as a no-nonsense farmer, Ray was first seen buying drugs from Robert Sugden.

However, things began to escalate when he groomed teenagers Dylan and April into helping him sell drugs, claiming they owed him a large debt that must be repaid to his boss. That boss was later confirmed to be villain Celia – and also Ray’s adoptive mother.

It all got too much for Dylan when Celia wanted to make him “the new Ray” and showed him her farm which was worked on by slaves. Claiming that it was a business to support the homeless, Dylan realised something was off when he saw Bear Wolf at the farm after he’d been missing for months.

Eventually, April confessed everything to Marlon and Rhona but just as they were heading to the police Celia stopped them. Ray proceeded to run Dylan over as a threat to keep them quiet.

In recent episodes, Celia announced that it was time for her and Ray to leave the Dales behind as there was too much heat on them. However, Ray had fallen for Laurel Thomas and didn’t want to leave.

Celia decided enough was enough, and instructed Ray to kill April, while she promised to kill Bear. However, Ray had developed a bond with Bear, and after Celia tried to stop him he stabbed her and left her for dead on the kitchen floor.

Viewers were then in store for another shock as Ray was seen being zipped up into a body bag, having also met a gruesome fate. Emmerdale have confirmed that there will be a “whodunnit” with multiple suspects for his death.

Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw also confirmed that Bear Wolf really is dead, as she shared: “While Paddy is still out searching for his missing father, the bleak truth is that Bear has been killed by the villainous Celia. This emotional search and tragic discovery will bring Paddy’s mental health problems back to the forefront.”

During Thursday’s (January 8) installment, the village learned about their criminal activities, as Marlon and April also paid a visit to the police to tell them everything.

Bob Hope then rushed to the Woolpack and filled the villagers in, as well as mentioning how Bear had been trapped on that farm for months on his own.

Viewers have taken to Reddit as they issue the same demand for justice to be served. u/dharcness_ wrote: “The ending to the whole Ray, Celia, April, Dylan drug storyline felt sooo rushed with no satisfying conclusion.

“Ray and Celia both die abruptly. We didn’t get to see any kind of justice being served, or them get their comeuppance for all the shit they put April and Dylan through. We didn’t get to see Laurel’s reaction to suddenly finding out the man she wanted to spend her life with turned out to be a monster. Bear and Ray die off screen.

“After months of not wanting to go to the police, April suddenly wants to confess everything when it’s too late. I know most of us were completely over this storyline, but I was holding out on the hope that there would be some vengeance for what Ray and Celia did. But nope, we were robbed of that closure.”

u/witty-bus07 added: “Is that the expected reaction from Paddy on learning about Bear? I would have expected anger and for some time.”