Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Note: The following article contains discussion of sexual misconduct.
Emmerdale‘s Robert Sugden reveals all about his spell behind bars next week, in a special episode that travels back in time. Torn between soul mate Aaron Dingle and dying husband Kev Townsend, Robert faces some difficult questions about his future.
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Will Robert find the answers by opening up about his past? Or are things about to get even messier before this love triangle is resolved?
“It’s great to have this flashback to flesh out the backstory of Robert’s time in prison,” says Ryan Hawley, who plays the fan favourite. “It’s an interesting episode, and hopefully the viewers will enjoy it.”
Robert was jailed for the murder of Lee Posner in 2019, the man who raped his sister Victoria and fathered her son, Harry. After an appeal successfully overturned his charges, Robert was released six months ago and made a shock return to the village.
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There’s a lot of ground to cover in the intervening years, and even though Robert has spoken about how hard prison life was, we’re about to see for ourselves exactly what he went through.
During an emotional exchange with ex-husband Aaron, Robert realises he can’t hide the extent of the physical and emotional torment he endured in jail any longer, and he bravely revisits his darkest chapter…
“The flashback begins around five years ago,” explains Ryan. “We go through different time periods right up until May of this year, just before Robert is let out and interrupts Aaron and John’s wedding.”
It turns out Robert was transferred from the Isle of Wight, where he spent the early part of his sentence, to Hotten prison, much closer to his old life in Emmerdale.
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As the gaps start to be filled in across the five years, we’ll get to see how Robert got together with fellow felon, and future husband, Kev.
“When I started back on the show I didn’t know Robert had a husband in prison, that came as a shock!” admits Ryan. “Kev is a brilliant character and Chris [Coghill, aka Kev] is a great addition to the cast. Now we get to learn more about Robert and Kev’s history.”
Having already shared recollections of how Kev saved him from beatings at the hands of prison bullies, Robert goes deeper into the details of his trauma. What really gave him those awful night terrors he suffered when he first came home?
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As the story takes us to 2025, it becomes clear the bond between Robert and Kev is much more complicated than anyone realises. Their meeting changed the course of both their lives, and there could be more game-changing revelations to come in the present day…
“There’s one particularly nice little twist,” teases Ryan. “Neither me nor Chris knew about it until we read the script. Something happened in prison that is massively pivotal. No one finds out about it until it’s revealed here.”
“At first I thought it might be more interesting to leave Robert’s prison past to the imagination,” he adds. “But it was definitely worth doing because it explains a lot about Robert and Kev’s relationship. Some interesting things are sewn in the flashback episode that potentially takes the story forward…”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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