The following article contains pretty major spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that has not aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.
Right, that’s your warning. Now onto the news.
Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) and Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) have shared a kiss in Emmerdale, and Vanity fans are losing their minds.
The popular former couple split in 2020 after Charity cheated on Vanessa with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb), who she is now married to.
Meanwhile, Vanessa went on to embark on a relationship with Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough), but she died in the ITV soap’s epic limo crash stunt earlier this year.
Vanessa was supported by Mary Goskirk (Louise Jameson) in the aftermath of Suzy’s death, although flashbacks revealed she’d shared a kiss with Suzy before she died.
For most of this year, Charity and Vanessa have been sharing quite a few scenes together, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Fans call them ‘Vanity’
In recent weeks, Vanessa has been supporting Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill), who wants to become a mum through surrogacy. The agreement is that Charity will carry Sarah’s baby for her, but their journey took a turn yesterday.
At the start of the week, Charity fell over in the woods while walking with Mackenzie. She then suffered bleeding, which made her realise the recent embryo transfer probably hadn’t worked.
Vanessa was the first person to discover this and supported her, and continued to do so in this evening’s episode.
After Sarah discovered Charity’s fall, she left Jacobs Fold. It allowed Mackenzie to try and be there for Charity, but he made a terrible mistake when he tried to suggest that losing the embryo was for the best.
Because of Mack’s previous comments about Charity being the surrogate, she believed it looked as though Mack was pleased about this development. The couple had an intense argument, and it ended with Charity walking out and heading to the pub.
There, Charity got very drunk and was found by Vanessa. She was making a bit of a show of herself, so Vanessa took her back to her house.
Charity spoke about the surrogacy and Mack and Vanessa was kind to her. She listened and offered advice, all while making pasta and offering Charity water to sober her up.
Just as the instalment ended though, Charity potentially took things a little too far. Vanessa had told her that she can sleep in Tracy’s (Amy Walsh) bed, and Charity said that she should join her.
The two characters ended up kissing, but the credits rolled before we could see a reaction from the both of them.
What will happen next?
Was Vanessa just being friendly to Charity, or does she feel something more for her ex?
Emma Atkins, who plays Charity, previously reflected on the impact her character’s relationship with Vanessa had on fans.
‘A lot of people took to that and it resonated. The fact it was two women, it made a brilliant impact for a lot of people.’
‘I think when they do have scenes together, there’s always that potential for an opening again, of reconnection, because they get on so well as friends,’ she said.
‘There’s always that spark and you never know in soap properly what they choose to do from one moment to the next, and it’s always a joy to work with Michelle.
‘So either way, it’s going to be a win-win. Even if they just have a lovely friendship, because there is a friendship there to be had.’
