“Fans say they were left ‘sickened’ — but what Emma Atkins revealed next changes everything…”
Emmerdale star Emma Atkins, who plays Charity Dingle on the long-running soap, has spoken out after fans were left "disugsted" by a scene in which her character was subjected to sexual assault
Emma Atkins has spoken out about her latest Emmerdale storyline (Image: emmerdale/Instagram)
Emmerdale star Emma Atkins has spoken out after a “sickening” sexual assault scene took place on the ITV soap. The actress, 51, has played Charity Dingle on the long-running Yorkshire-based serial since 2000 and on Sunday night’s episode, which had been moved from its usual slot due to the football, her character was attacked by Dr Caitlin Todd in a harrowing scene that aired right at the end.
Todd climbed on top of Charity as she lay sleeping, and she could he heard unzipping her trousers. Charity awoke in horror as she realised what was going on and begged her to get off. Charity sat bolt upright and Todd simply got up, collected her things and walked out.
Shortly after the episode aired, Emma was seen in a video posted to the programme’s official Instagram page. She said: “In tonight’s episode of Emmerdale, my character Charity was sexually assaulted my Dr Todd. These storylines can be extremely triggering, so please, if anyone needs help or support, visit itv.com/advice.”
Emma has played Charity Dingle since 2000(Image: emmerdale/Instagram)
The soap star urged viewers to seek help and advice should they need it (Image: emmerdale/Instagram)
The scenes proved be be a difficult watch for many viewers and, whilst bosses made sure to issue a warning before the linear broadcast, some fans were horrified to discover that it had been missed out of the version that appeared on YouTube. Taking to X, one fan said: “Bloody hell #emmerdalemaybe you should put a trigger warning on for those who may been affected by this in the past.”
Another raged: “I hope #Emmerdale gets a fine and or massive warning, there’s doing a storyline and there is a storyline that makes many women feel physically sick and shaking, disgusting behaviour from TV!”
A third said: “heads up to anyone who hasn’t watched today’s #emmerdale ep on youtube – there is no prior warning of the content the episode contains, I think @emmerdale really should have done more here and it can be rectified with a suitable warning in the description.”
Others claimed the programme had gone “too far” with the scene, and reactions flooded social media immediately after the scene aired. Writing on X, one said: “The SA scene in #Emmerdale is horrendous, please take care of yourselves, very difficult watch. Charity [crying emoji].I can’t post the clip its so disturbing.”
Emmerdale aired a ‘horrendous’ scene involving sexual assault at the end of Sunday night’s episode (Image: ITV)
Another said: “Did #emmerdale have a warning for tonight’s episode? They should have done because that was grim,” and another said: “I can’t watch I think the writers have gone too far,” as a fourth wrote: “I didn’t see the warning. I’m physically ill.”
However, others were quick to praise the soap for tackling such a subject, with one writing: “Tonight’s #emmerdale is an extremely difficult watch but it was handled absolutely perfectly. Amazing performances from Emm Aatkins & Caroline Harker and the directing of the end scene by Yvonne Wells & Haley Muraleedharan was outstanding. please take care when watching.”
Another said: “This storyline WILL help so many people. it doesn’t matter the gender, SA happens. lets open that conversation and get victims justice.”
