Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) finds best friend Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) in a terrible way in Emmerdale this week. He immediately sets about trying to help Paddy, but ends up confronting his own inner demons at the same time.

Marlon and Paddy have both been impacted by Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) reign over the village, but there hasn’t been a direct focus on their trauma up until now.

When Marlon learnt about April Windsor’s (Amelia Flanagan) ordeal with Celia, he was determined to protect her and the rest of his family from the evil woman’s horror.

Protecting his loved ones was also the role Paddy had in this storyline. After Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) returned from the farm and murdered Ray Walters (Joe Absolom), Paddy tried to protect him from prison. He also had to look out for Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle), who was present when Ray’s murder took place.

Due to the fact both of these men have been busy worrying about other people, Marlon and Paddy haven’t really checked in with themselves.

They have no choice but to address their feelings in upcoming episodes, as Paddy arrives at Smithy Cottage consumed with negativity.

As Paddy opens up about his feelings regarding the upcoming court case, Marlon learns that his friend is full of self-loathing.

‘Paddy’s a very intelligent person, so Marlon can only address it up to a point’, Mark Charnock said.

‘I think he can. I think the best thing he can do is say, “What you’re talking about isn’t an actuality. It’s only a possibility. It’s the worst-case scenario; you are catastrophising. And there’s a very big world in which this is going to be alright. And even if it’s not alright, we’ll all manage”. But I don’t think there is much you can say in that scenario that’s going to make any human being feel better, no matter how well you know them.’

In an attempt to help, Marlon instructs Paddy to get in the car and together, they head up the road to Celia’s farm.

Marlon hands Paddy a sledgehammer, and tells him to take his anger out on the items laying on the floor outside.

As Paddy gets to work, Marlon joins in and very quickly, it becomes apparent that he also needs to let his inner demons out as well.

Star Mark explained these future scenes: ‘He doesn’t know it, when they start, they’re just really ferociously smashing stuff up. And Paddy’s kind of going, “This is amazing, you’re right. This is just what I needed”.

‘And there’s a moment in it when Marlon goes to another place, and everything that he’s been through with April, all the trauma, everything that he’s he felt unable to do during April’s suffering and his family’s suffering, everything that he felt that he should have done at the time and didn’t, comes out in in this smashing up their kitchen table, which he sees as the sort of hub of their lives, where they would have had conversations about whose lives they were going to ruin next. And he just loses control completely, and Paddy has to talk him down.’

Reflecting on the importance of Emmerdale continuing to explore mental health but in particular, men’s mental health, Mark told us:

‘I’m really chuffed that the show’s doing this, because the turnover of stories in all soaps is really fast, and manifold. And I think with a story like this that’s so common and so crucial, the fact that we’re revisiting it and showing that no matter how well people are, even after the big sort of upheaval that Paddy went through a couple of years ago, it’s still there.