DS Thea Ramsden (Chelsea Edge) thought she was coming to town to get the revenge she’s spent her adult life hoping for, but her plans have gone mightily awry in Emmerdale.
We learned that Thea is Kim Tate’s (Claire King) long lost daughter, put up for adoption as a baby and put into a life that left her bitter and vengeful against mummy dearest Kim. She’s now particularly miffed that Kim is allowing history to repeat itself with Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) planning to give his own baby up for adoption.
Thea came prepared with some pretty robust plans to bring Kim down, including snooping through Home Farm to find incriminating evidence, recruiting pal Serena to infiltrate the Tate household, and eventually framing Kim for Jimmy’s (Nick Miles) death with some neatly placed fake evidence. But when that didn’t stick, she’s been trying to cook up a plan B. All the while her hatred has been bubbling over.
Recently she softened, having seen Kim raw and vulnerable at Will’s graveside. But all it took was a partially overheard conversation about Joe Tate giving up his baby and Thea’s hatred to came flooding back.
She’s so consumed with hatred, she manages to get herself caught out – by Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill), and it could threaten her entire career.
Thea has been investigating Todd’s death and was instrumental in putting Charity behind bars. Her pal Serena – who the village doesn’t know is her pal – was involved in helping to cover up the death, and thus could be in a world of trouble if anyone finds out she’s implicated in the crime.
Awkward then for Sarah to spot Serena and Thea having a secret urgent meeting. Sarah immediately puts two and two together and realises these two are in on things together. Now she has what she needs to get Charity out of prison.
Sarah goes in hard on the two women, slapping them with a blackmail plot to try and get Charity freed. Sarah is particularly invested in seeing Charity released, given that she’s currently in prison for a crime Sarah committed, and staring at a long stretch after Sarah falsely changed her statement out of spite.
Thea tries to talk Sarah out of her blackmail, but Sarah is nothing if not strong, indignant, and stubborn. Serena, meanwhile, visits Charity to chat about Sarah and what’s going on back home – another vain hope to try and get themselves off the hook.
Thea is panicked and catches up with Serena for an update, but Serena only has bad news, and Thea’s hand is forced.
It’s not long before Charity gets the unexpected news that she’s being released, but Thea’s involvement in that could prove problematic for the police officer. What will Charity’s release mean for Thea, and what will Sarah do with her knowledge?
