Tina Dingle (now played by Samantha Power) made a shocking return in tonight’s episode of Emmerdale and despite only being in the village for a few hours, she made quite the impact.
This week, the residents have been in mourning after learning Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) died.
Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Sam (James Hooton) left the Dales a few days ago for Scotland to bring Zak’s body home and bury him on the Dingle land.
Tonight’s episode of the ITV soap opened with Cain and Sam preparing Zak’s grave, a sight Marlon (Mark Charnock) found difficult to process.
A funeral organised so quickly with the Dingles at the centre was, perhaps unexpectedly, fairly chaotic and loud. In the pub, while some family and friends shared memories of Zak, Marlon, Paddy (Dominic Brunt) and Mandy (Lisa Riley) took to the karaoke to sing songs from Zak’s playlist.
After time in the pub, the Dingles moved Zak’s body up to Wishing Well. There, they laid his body to rest in the ground – though nowhere near Shadrach Dingle, of course.
Just as celebrant Marlon pondered over what to say in front of the family, they were interrupted by a very loud Tina Dingle.
It’s been almost 30 years since Tina was last in the village, meaning she wasn’t able to recognise young sister Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper). Despite the absence though, Tina announced she knew quite a lot about her relatives thanks to Mandy, who had been in contact.
With the funeral taking a turn, the Dingles continued to wonder why Tina had suddenly showed up, arguing she didn’t really have a right to say goodbye to her dad.
The old face disagreed, and proceeded to wind everyone up by noting their criminal history.
After Mandy found pictures of Wishing Well on Tina’s phone, the feisty character announced that she believed she was entitled to some of the building.
She then turned her attention to Lydia (Karen Blick) and wondered what she actually saw in her brother Sam.
Wound up, Lydia shoved Tina, causing her to fall into a massive pile of mud.
It was a hilarious moment and while Tina was scrambling around for help, Lydia revealed Zak’s will confirmed he’s left the house to Sam, Belle and Cain.
Still stuck on the floor, Tina failed to conceal her ankle tag, which was spotted by Charity (Emma Atkins).
At the family laughed about her hypocrisy, a police car showed up.
Obviously.
It wasn’t PC Swirling thankfully, but two other officers who had arrived for Tina.
Steve pointed out to Tina that her tag doesn’t come off until tomorrow, which meant she had broken the rules.
The character walked past her family and prepared to leave the Dales in a police car. Before she did though, she turned and told the Dingles that ‘this isn’t over!’.
Discussing her arrival to the show, Samantha Power told us: ‘My husband said he had never known me to be this nervous. My first scene on my first day was at the graveside with ALL the Dingles! That’s a lot right! Luckily everyone was so nice and welcoming. I have to say a special shout out to Lisa Riley, the nicest human being.
‘When I met her at the screen test I felt so safe, she couldn’t have been more giving and supportive and encouraging and that continued daily on set! I loved working with her!’
‘She is feisty, bolshy, selfish and she always seems to have an agenda and won’t stop at anything to get what she wants!’, she added, describing her new character.
‘Tina is really good at manipulating people, especially the Dingles so I don’t think any of them are safe.’
