If we had to pick the most haunting villain of Emmerdale at the moment, Celia Daniels would almost certainly be at the top.

She didn’t need to shout or swing a knife, just with a glance and a few gentle words, Celia turned April, Dylan and a group of vulnerable people into pawns in her hands.

Now, after her crimes were exposed, Emmerdale is preparing for Celia’s “great escape” – an escape that promises to be both infuriating and dramatic.

Throughout the arc, Celia is built as the embodiment of sophisticated violence.

She lured April into a drug ring, forcing him to work for her through a combination of threats and brainwashing; used Dylan and others as slave labor; and when things started to fall apart, she was willing to let Ray drive Dylan, inject him with drugs and leave him on the side of the road. Dylan survives but struggles for every breath, becoming living proof of Celia’s cruelty, and the emotional anchor that pulls the entire village into this war.

The most chilling point is the way Celia treats April’s family. Instead of disappearing when she sees the risk of being exposed, she storms into their home, using videos, threats and dirty secrets to suffocate any hope of resistance. The scenes where Celia uses images of Dylan being attacked to mentally torture Marlon and Rhona make the audience exclaim that Emmerdale has entered a new level of darkness. Not just physical violence, but psychological violence, bit by bit breaking the victim’s belief in the truth they are holding.