Emmerdale‘s Robert Sugden uncovers the secret threat to his happiness with Aaron Dingle tonight – and immediately fears that history could be repeating itself. With Kev Townsend back in the village and plotting his revenge, are Robert and Aaron about to face a miserable time over the festive season?

The ITV soap has just kicked off a huge Christmas storyline for the popular couple, as Aaron was furious to discover that someone had deliberately damaged his car. This unsettling incident came shortly after Robert and Aaron had clashed with Ross Barton over their plans to bring Seb back into their lives.

Although Ross appeared to be the most likely culprit for the car incident, the closing moments of the episode saw Robert’s prison husband Kev Townsend lurking in the shadows…

In tonight’s episode, the situation only gets worse as someone sets fire to trees outside Aaron’s home.

Once again, Aaron is quick to suspect Ross of causing trouble, but the village’s bad boy has an alibi after spending most of the morning at the café.

Robert soon discovers who is behind the attacks when he spots Kev lurking around. Still hoping that he can reason with his ex, Robert boldly invites Kev up to Aaron’s flat for a calm conversation. Well, surely it has to be calmer than last time, when Kev was waving a sword around.

“I am sorry about all that,” Kev admits, as he reflects on their previous showdown. “I just got very emotional, you know what I mean?”

And when Robert continues to insist that Aaron is the man he wants to be with, Kev replies: “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I just don’t believe you. I don’t think that I’m prepared to accept that.”

Kev confesses that he was behind the damage to Aaron’s car and the petty act with the trees, but is his worst still to come? Fans can see how the drama plays out when the episode airs tonight at the earlier time of 7pm on ITV1, or it’s streaming early now on ITVX and YouTube.

Beyond that, fans can expect this story to continue over the rest of the week, with confusion and fear ahead when Robert mysteriously goes missing on Christmas Day…