Emmerdale orders two murders in chilling ITVX episode as a shocking police twist looms

Emmerdale plunges into its darkest territory yet in a harrowing early ITVX release that sees Celia Daniels cross a terrifying new line. Already exposed as a master manipulator and ruthless criminal, Celia now appears to sanction two potential murders as her carefully constructed empire begins to unravel—and the threat of police involvement edges dangerously close.

The episode opens with Celia in a furious confrontation with Ray Walters after a discovery that threatens to destroy everything she has built. Just a day earlier, Celia had promoted Dylan Penders, presenting the move as a reward for loyalty and hard work. In reality, it was a calculated step, placing an impressionable young man closer to the horrors she has been hiding in plain sight.

Dylan’s first assignment in his so-called managerial role was to check on Robbie, a worker who had been brutally beaten with a bat by Mick, another enslaved labourer. Already shaken, Dylan entered the attic space where Robbie was being kept and was confronted by a scene of shocking brutality. Robbie was barely conscious, his injuries severe, his suffering unmistakable.

But the true horror was still to come.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dylan noticed an elderly man wandering into the attic. The man’s hood was pulled low, but recognition hit Dylan instantly. He stood up, voice trembling, and called out to him—Bear Wolf. In that moment, the truth slammed into place. Patty Kirk’s father was not missing. He was working on Celia’s farm, trapped inside her operation.

For Dylan, this should have been the turning point—the moment when truth overpowered fear. The expectation, as the episode initially suggests, is that Bear would listen, understand, and leave with him. Instead, Emmerdale delivers a devastating reversal.

Bear doesn’t recognise Dylan.

After Bear left the village, Dylan moved into the tenants’ property, meaning the old man has no memory of him. Dylan’s frantic attempts to reference Patty carry no weight. Worse still, Bear has been so thoroughly manipulated by Celia and Ray that his sense of family has been rewritten. The people on the farm—his fellow captives and controllers—are now, in his mind, all he has left.

Emotionally crushed and out of options, Dylan exits the barn and approaches Celia, asking if he can return home. It is his birthday, and he has already missed a planned brunch because he was summoned to the farm. Celia’s response is chilling in its calmness. She refuses, telling him that with promotion comes responsibility. Then she asks for his phone, claiming she will issue him with a new one.

Dylan lies, saying his phone is back at the tenants.

This forces him to return to the village, and for the first time, he sees a narrow window to act. Spotting Marlon Dingle nearby, Dylan hides by a doorway and urgently tells him that April Windsor is in danger and that the police must be called. He cannot explain more—every second risks Celia growing suspicious—but the message is clear enough to send a ripple of alarm through Marlon.

Inside the house, Dylan nearly calls 999. His finger hovers over the screen. But fate—and Celia—intervene.

She catches him before he can make the call.

Once again, Dylan lies his way out, masking terror with obedience, and prepares to return to the farm. But Celia, already alert, notices something that detonates her control. She spots a photograph nearby. In it, Bear stands beside Patty. Father and son, frozen in time.

The implications are instant and explosive.

Celia’s rage erupts. She summons Ray back to the farm immediately, no longer bothering to conceal her fury. The truth is undeniable: Bear Wolf is Patty Kirk’s father. Ray instantly understands the gravity of his mistake. This is the one connection Celia cannot afford to let surface.

Celia tears into Ray, berating him for allowing such a catastrophic oversight. Bear is no longer just a worker—he is a liability. A living, breathing link to the outside world. A man whose freedom could expose everything.

Then come the words that send a chill through the episode.

Celia orders Ray to “deal with Dylan.”
And then to “deal with Bear.”

The ambiguity is deliberate—and horrifying.

Emmerdale leaves viewers in no doubt that Celia is not talking about dismissal or relocation. She is talking about permanent silence. Two people now know too much. Two people now threaten her survival.

Ray’s reaction is telling. Fear flashes across his face, not just of Celia, but of himself. How far is he willing to go? He has already proven capable of violence in her name, but this order is different. Dylan is a boy. Bear is an old man broken by years of exploitation. This is no longer about protection—it is about murder.

Adding further tension is the looming police twist hinted at throughout the episode. Dylan’s warning to Marlon may already be setting events in motion. April’s name being mentioned raises the stakes even higher, suggesting that the truth is beginning to seep out despite Celia’s efforts to contain it.

What makes this storyline especially disturbing is how methodical Celia remains. Even as her world threatens to collapse, she does not panic. She calculates. She eliminates risk. Her control is absolute—until it isn’t.

The episode reframes Celia not just as a villain, but as a figure of pure survival instinct, one who believes any life is expendable if it ensures her freedom. It also forces a reckoning for Ray, whose loyalty has dragged him deeper into moral darkness with every command he follows.

As Emmerdale pushes this plot toward its inevitable breaking point, the consequences feel seismic. Dylan has reached out for help. Bear’s identity has been exposed. And Celia has shown just how far she is willing to go to protect herself.

The question now is not whether the truth will come out—but how many lives will be destroyed before it does.