Marlon (Mark Charnock) is living every parent’s worst nightmare in Emmerdale – his daughter has gone missing following a huge argument and she is nowhere to be found.
And either she doesn’t want to be found, or something is preventing her from being.
Having learned what really happened when her mum died, April (Amelia Flanagan) has since been spiralling. She’s developed a taste for vodka and backchat, which on the surface, is seemingly all part of becoming a teenager, but in fact something much deeper is going on.
There’s a common denominator with her lies and descent into rebellion – Ross (Mike Parr). It wasn’t long after he returned that April found herself kidnapped and being hung upside down over the edge of the carpark. All thanks to Ross’ dodgy dealings. He also revealed the truth about her mum’s death.
April then began lying to her dad about hanging out with Ross, to whom she snuck food as he slept in his car and slipped him a key to Marlon’s empty cottage.
All of this has been driving a wedge between Marlon and his daughter.
The upshot is an almighty row at Christmas, which sees her stripped of her phone and privileges. She’s sent to her room to mull over her actions, which culminates her doing a flit in the middle of the night.
‘She has this terrible Christmas where she causes all sorts of issues and problems and they’re just not meeting on a level playing field,’ actor Mark Charnock explains of the rift between father and daughter.
‘The next morning, he opens a present, April’s still in bed, and she’s got him this mug that he dropped not long after he had the stroke…He goes up – and she’s gone.’
It’s a horrifying moment. After running around the village in a panic, Marlon realises that his daughter really is nowhere to be found – and she doesn’t even have a phone. He fears she’s been kidnapped again.
She’s missing several days but Marlon refuses to give up hope. In the midst of his anguish. He has a run in with Mary (Louise Jameson), so he ploughs his emotions into creating an appeal video to get April to come home.
Without intending it to, Marlon’s video goes viral overnight. But instead of the support he hopes ofr, things take a shock turn when the video is hit with trolling and hatred. Mary tries to protect Marlon from it, but he soon discovers the truth.
Defeated, he considers deleting the video as the abuse almost becomes too much. Will vile trolls force Marlon to quit his search, or worse?
