Emmerdale viewers have been floored after discovering two co-stars once dated in real life.

In recent episodes of the ITV soap, Moira Dingle, played by Natalie J Robb, has been stitched up by Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) after she got involved with local farmer Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).

Celia and her son, Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), were running a forced labour scheme and a drugs ring from the farm next door to Moira’s without her knowing.

On Wednesday (January 15), the police found the identification documents belonging to Celia’s slaves that Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) had stashed on her bookshelf, and Moira was arrested.

Robert has been forced to commit the act by Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), who is blackmailing Robert’s sister, Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins), into handing over her share of Butler’s.

If the siblings didn’t comply, he would expose the footage of her killing their brother John (Oliver Farnworth) in some woodland, which happened during the Coronation Street crossover.

On Thursday, Moira tried to protest her innocence over charges relating to human trafficking and forced labour and was eventually released by police on bail.

When she arrived home, Moira was greeted by her worried husband, Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), her brother Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) and their family friend Dr Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson).

Despite Moira’s future hanging in the balance, some Emmerdale viewers were distracted by her scenes with her former real-life boyfriend.

Natalie J Robb and Liam star Jonny McPherson once dated after they reportedly connected while on a holiday to Lapland for a charity trip with the ITV soap in 2019.

During the trip, the pair began to develop feelings for each other and shared a kiss in 2020. However, Natalie and Jonny’s relationship moved quickly when the country went into lockdown the same year due to Covid-19, and they moved in together.

A source at the time told The Mirror: “Natalie has had her fair share of romps as Moira, but this time she’s found love off-screen. Everyone is so happy for them.”

They added: “Lockdown gave them some quality time together, and they couldn’t be happier. It’s still early days, but Natalie can’t stop smiling.”

Jonny spoke to The Mirror back in November of 2020 about the start of their relationship, revealing: “We had to make a decision as lots of couples did. We decided to move in together, and so, yes, lockdown did fast-forward our relationship.

“We get on so well. We come from quite different backgrounds, but we are essentially the same person. We are both a pair of big kids. We have exactly the same stupid humour,” he continued.

Despite their initial spark, their relationship soon broke down, with Natalie and Jonny calling it quits in 2021.

Speaking to The Sun in 2022 about being on set with her ex, Natalie revealed the pair still get along as friends and had recently been filming together.

“We were doing a few scenes together the other day, and it was lovely to see him,” she said when asked if the break-up had made things awkward on set.

Natalie went on to discuss their relationship, revealing that the pandemic had complicated it.

She continued: “Unfortunately, it was Covid times, so there was this added pressure. He moved in with me during the first lockdown and it was just too intense, too soon.

“And if you’re not used to that, which I hadn’t been for a while, we realised pretty quickly that we were better off as friends.”

Taking to Facebook, one eagle-eyed Emmerdale viewer pointed out Natalie and Jonny sharing a scene in the latest episode, and wrote: “It’s not every day Moira has a scene with Liam, he’s Moira’s ex in real life, just saying.”

One responded with: “I didn’t know that”, while a second added: “I didn’t know that either.”

A third stated: “I didn’t, but don’t think it matters”, while another exclaimed: “I knew this, but didn’t know they had broken up.”