Emmerdale fans were “heartbroken” as tonight’s (Thursday 16th January) episode saw Chas figure out the truth behind Anthony Fox as she realised he is Steph’s father. The character came to this realisation after Ruby had confided in Chas about her father a few episodes prior.
In recent weeks, Emmerdale has tackled the storyline of Ruby Fox-Miligan dealing with memories resurfacing where her father Anthony Fox sexually abused her as a teenager. This week, fans learnt that Caleb was not Steph’s father and as he is convinced Ruby had an affair he ended their relationship, telling Steph that “there was no coming back from this”.
Emmerdale have confirmed that Anthony will be killed in episodes airing next week, and actress Beth Cordingly shared: “Anthony, her father, abused her as a child and is now making her life a nightmare by threatening to expose her infidelity with Cain to Caleb. He’s also making friends with everyone in the village and Ruby is struggling to maintain her secret of 30 years.
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“He’s manipulating Steph and turning her against Ruby. He denies any wrongdoing in the past to Ruby and appears to be making Ruby’s current life hell. He implies anything that happened in the past was not his fault and that Ruby is largely to blame. He appears to want to destroy her current chances of happiness with Caleb and the rebuilding of her relationship with Steph.”
She added that Ruby is “emotional, edgy and panicky” during the week Anthony is found dead – but could this mean she’s responsible for his murder? Beth revealed: “The aftermath of something is very different. I think Ruby would be left with very conflicting feelings of guilt…”
In tonight’s episode, Caleb is convinced that the biological father of Steph is Ruby’s old friend Rob who spent a lot of time with her as they were growing up. Actor William Ash confirmed: “He’s the only one, Caleb didn’t particularly like him, he was a bit nerdy and geeky always hanging around Ruby. What happens is: he has a conversation with Chas who confirms it was probably this Rob who is Steph’s father.
“Caleb gets in touch with Rob over Facebook and asks him for some work to be done at the depot, Rob runs this IT firm, under the pretence of getting Rob round to confront him. Also, Chas has told Caleb that it’s implied Rob might have forced himself on Ruby. Caleb is apoplectic with rage about this, absolutely furious. He gets Rob round to the house, Rob is like ‘no!’ and says he’s gay, him and Ruby were just friends and he really convinces Caleb it wasn’t him.”
Tensions were high in Emmerdale as fans saw Caleb find out he is not Steph’s father -Credit:ITV
It wasn’t long, however, until Chas Dingle connects the dots and realises Anthony is the father. Chas, visibly shaken, asks Caleb “Did she ever say why she was scared of her Dad?” before she revealed “she wasn’t seeing anybody else, you and Rob were the only lads in her life, but I don’t think we’re looking for a lad… I think Anthony was abusing Ruby and I think he fathered Steph” comparing this experience to finding out that her son Aaron had been sexually abused by hiss biological father Gordon.
Fans took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share their thoughts, @sapphicsoaps wrote: “this episode literally sent shivers down my spine. watching the penny drop for Chas was so chilling! Emmerdale have handled this storyline so perfectly, but it is absolutely breaking me” with @SoapfanSam responding: “Chas is amazing and I hoped it would be her that was the person who worked it all out.”
@kadeesswain added: “Chas realising what really happened to ruby is breaking my heart!” and @krishanmaharaj penned: “Chas was great today figuring out what was actually happening was perfect Anthony makes me sick.”
@CharSlater1980 commented: “Chas’s look n her face broke my heart” with @Char_Tutton adding: “Especially knowing how Chas has probably come to that realisation with what Aaron went through.”
Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.