Emmerdale star confirms who takes over from Ray as Celia doubts him
Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths) is a criminal mastermind in Emmerdale, and will do whatever it takes to ensure her operation runs smoothly. If she comes across a problem, she can fix it almost instantly. She’s always at the top of her game. Her son? Not so much.
Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) was adopted by Celia when he was a child. She found him on the streets and raised him in a world of drug dealing and the exploitation of vulnerable people. When we first met Ray, he’d often make it clear that he had a boss, but no-one expected that person to be his mum as well.
Celia is in charge of the entire operation, while Ray is a bit more like a manager. He does important jobs such as looking after drug mules and finding new slaves for the farm, but still has to answer to Celia and do as she says.
As the storyline has continued, the fact that Ray isn’t as switched on as his mum has been highlighted time and time again. He makes mistakes, and is also finding himself increasingly distracted by Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy).
In upcoming episodes, Celia ponders over the fact that she will one day need a new Ray. She then turns her attention to drug runner Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) and decides to assign him a task as a test.
‘Celia has a fondness for Dylan because he reminds her of Ray’, star Jaye Griffiths explained.
‘There is something so still about Fred, the way he plays him, that is always very attractive. Celia has a soft spot for him and she’s prepared to overlook some gut instinct that he’s not all as he seems.’
‘Celia wants Dylan to be her new Ray. She wants Dylan to prove he’s loyal by being in charge of the consequences, and the consequences for this lad Robbie, are with a baseball bat. She wants Dylan to administer the consequences, but he won’t, and Celia is secretly thrilled, it means he’s not the muscle, that’s not him. He’s meant to be a manager.’
Also in the same week, Celia will discover that Ted is actually Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards), and Paddy Kirk’s (Dominic Brunt) dad.
‘It is infuriating that, yet again, Ray has messed up’, Jaye said, noting Celia’s anger.
‘They never take locals, because of this scenario. Locals have families, locals are known, they’re missed, we don’t touch them. What has Ray done? The level of irritation that Celia has with Ray is sometimes beyond measure.
Celia is a villain in this soap which means she won’t be in the Dales forever.
‘She should absolutely escape!’, Jaye said when asked about Celia’s inevitable downfall.
‘Her comeuppance is that she’s lonely. She has a penthouse that you never see, because she’s never in it. What is her life? What does she enjoy? She never goes home. What is the quality of her life? Her life is very small. She has all this money in the bank, and yet she does nothing.
