Mandy Dingle’s (Lisa Riley) lies in Emmerdale have come back to get her and it’s set to be one heck of a showdown.
Mandy has never been a great liar, which is a blessing and a curse in many ways. But this one whopper of a lie could cost her entire family. Never knowing what to do for the best is her biggest skill.
When Tina Dingle (Samantha Power) showed up in the village, Mandy’s world began to implode. While Tina returned to get her hands on her inheritance, she brought with her the biggest secret of Mandy’s life – Tina is Vinny’s (Bradley Johnson) real mum.
Unscrupulous Tina used this to blackmail Mandy and instead of just coming clean and dealing with the fallout, Mandy did what she always does by trying to make it go away.
This resulted in her handing over Zak’s will to greedy Tina – meaning she could get her hands on Wishing Well. Keeping Vinny’s parentage a secret has proven more important to Mandy than her entire family.
Mandy attempts to take back control by dragging Tina’s caravan into a random field, but while Tina is irritated by this, it has the opposite effect to what Mandy hoped.
Instead, Mandy’s worst nightmare comes true – she arrives at the Dingles to find Tina already there and spilling the beans that she is in fact Vinny’s real mum.
Someone might as well have let off a hand grenade for the damage this does. Vinny realises his whole life has been a lie and what’s more, he’s been a real, blood Dingle all along.
Vinny learns the truth (Picture: ITV)
Actor Bradley told Metro: ‘She’s [Tina] come into his life, and actually she’s blood Dingle. It’s not somebody random, it’s actual blood Dingle. That makes Zak his granddad, Belle and Sam his aunt and uncle.
‘It’s a big deal for him and I think he knows that she’s not the nicest of characters, but he hopes she’ll do the right thing and stick around and be the mother that she’s not been for 20-odd years.’
Mandy is well known for telling a daft porky or two – Madam Diamante Dales for example. But this is Earthshattering.
‘I think Vinny is quite aware of what Mandy’s like, she lies through her teeth sometimes, but he never thought she’d tell such a big lie to Vinny and I think he’s just angry, distraught and completely resents Mandy,’ Bradley says.
But Vinny also knows Tina is not to be trusted and he sets up a sting operation for his bio mum – he offers her £50,00 to leave their lives for good, or she can stick around and get to know her son.
Bradley told us: ‘Vinny’s got quite a lot of money in the bank from selling Mill Cottage.
‘He kind of gives Tina an ultimatum and thinks, “I’ll play you at your own game here. I’ll offer you £50,000 and you leave the village for good, or you don’t take it and you actually want something to do with me.” And that’ll tell Vinny everything he needs to know about whether she’s here for the money, or here because she actually wants something to do with her own son.’
Is Vinny set for the heartbreak of losing two mums at once?
