Since Ross Barton (Mike Parr) returned to Emmerdale his attempts to be a good father to his son Moses Dingle (Arthur Cockroft) haven’t exactly made him Father of the Year material.
Taking Moses to watch him taking part in an illegal bare-knuckle boxing match against Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) wasn’t the smartest move, nor was the time he fired a loaded gun in the barn while looking for an intruder – not realising that Moses was also in the barn and could have been killed.
Charity (Emma Atkins) was understandably furious when she heard about these events, but she was resigned to the fact that Ross is Moses’ father and they should have a relationship.
Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb), meanwhile, has felt threatened by Ross’s return and Ross has taken every opportunity to wind him up for not being Moses’ real dad and for having no contact with his own son, Reuben.
‘It’s a jealous paternal father-figure role that they’re both fighting for,’ Mike Parr told us. ‘Ross will stoop to any lengths to get one over on him. For all Ross’s faults he does love Moses, he’s just not quite sure how to put it together yet. When he sees those guys doing it quite well and being a happy family, that doesn’t sit well with him.’
In upcoming episodes Mackenzie is enjoying the fact that he and Moses have a close relationship and Ross is very much on the outside. There’s also the fact that Mack has some spare cash to provide for his family – money which practically fell into his hands after the last boxing match and which Ross doesn’t know about.
Boxing promoter Jade (Twinnie-Lee Moore) is keen to get her money back and she threatens Ross that, if he doesn’t locate and return the cash, his family will be in danger.
Ross tries to warn Charity to take Moses away from the village, but she refuses. In the end it’s April (Amelia Flanagan) – the daughter of Ross’s former girlfriend Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth) – who Jade goes after.
There’s huge drama as April is kidnapped and her life is threatened by Jade’s henchmen. Ross is forced to intervene. Will he be able to save April?
In the aftermath of this, Charity becomes aware of the kind of people Ross has been dealing with. Ross reacts angrily over what’s happened – and he’s shocked when he realises that his actions have made Moses terrified of him.
Reluctantly he’s forced to accept that he no longer has a relationship with his son, who refuses to be near him.
Ross has one final attempt to make things right with Moses, but as he sees Mack and Moses together he realises that his rival is more of a father to Moses now than he is. He abandons his plan to talk to Moses, and Charity tells him to get out of their lives for good.
Is this the last we’ll see of Ross Barton?
