Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) has been left in turmoil in Emmerdale since he impulsively tried to kissed Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah) – which led to him questioning his sexuality.
Vinny is, of course, about to marry Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham), but as the wedding approaches his doubts seem to be growing stronger. Having Kammy around isn’t helping, either, as Vinny has been unable to help himself from stealing some lustful glances in the mechanic’s direction.
A conversation with Aaron (Danny Miller), in which he said he kissed Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) on his wedding day to John (Oliver Farnworth), further flustered Vinny.
Aaron reassured him that most people have doubts before they get married, and Vinny admitted he kissed someone else – without mentioning it was Kammy. Aaron told him that it was a blip, and not to ruin things by telling Gabby.
Following this, Vinny went online to try to find the answers he was looking for and discovered an LGBTQ+ forum. And that was where he met Mike, a person who seemed to understand how Vinny was feeling. Talking to Mike lifted a weight from his shoulders.
‘I think he’s just a confused, a confused man at the minute’, star Bradley Johnson said.
‘I think the connection with Kammy is definitely real, it might be pansexuality, where you fancy the personality rather than the person. I know I keep saying it but he’s severely confused, and doesn’t know what he wants, but he knows he’s got that connection with Kammy. He’s confused about why that is, and he’s just trying to wrap his brain around it.’
In upcoming episodes, Vinny meets up with Mike in the countryside just outside the village. Mike appears to be friendly and open, and Vinny finds himself relaxing.
Mike asks him if he’s gay, and Vinny is confused about how to define his sexuality. Mike reassures him that his feelings are natural and he’ll work it out. Later, Vinny arranges to see Mike again just before he shares a passionate kiss with Gabby.
The next day Gabby heads off to spend the night at a spa. Vinny gets an urgent message from Mike, who then turns up at Vinny’s house. He says his partner has kicked him out.
He hints that there’s an attraction between him and Vinny, but now Vinny isn’t so sure and feels out of his depth with the whole situation.
And that’s when Mike’s behaviour switches. From being friendly and understanding, he suddenly turns on him and Vinny is terrified as Mike attacks him.
Meanwhile, Gabby has left her phone at home and is heading back to get it. Will she arrive in the nick of time to save Vinny from violent Mike? And how will Vinny explain what happened?‘All of a sudden we see this shift in his body language and his attitude’, Bradley explained.
‘And Macaulay, who plays Mike, is a brilliant actor. Mike starts saying some really horrible, hurtful stuff to Vinny, and Vinny is like, well, what? What’s, what’s going on here? And he beats Vinny up, it’s a horrendous beating and Vinny’s on the floor and he’s having flashbacks to everything that happened with him and Paul, you know what he’s been through there. And Mike demands that he sends him £10,000, or else he’ll expose his secret to Gabby.
‘And what I think is so cruel is that Mike’s secretly recorded Vinny on every meeting that he’s had, and especially when he when he came to the house as well, he recorded him.
‘When Vinny’s on the floor, scared and vulnerable, Mike plays this recording back to him, and we just see that his world completely collapse.’
