While the whole of Emmerdale is preoccupied with Mandy’s scandal, another bombshell is waiting to explode: Chas Dingle – who once declared she would “never love anyone else” – discovers she is pregnant, and the father is… Caleb Milligan.

First scene: Chas holds a pregnancy test in the bathroom, her hands shaking, tears streaming down her face. “No way…” – she mumbles.

Just then, Caleb knocks on the door, asking: “Are you okay?” – Chas is speechless, quickly hiding the result in her pocket.

But throughout the episode, Chas cannot hide her change.

When Charity teases “you’ve looked pale these days”, she just smiles awkwardly. Finally, in the climax, Chas confronts Caleb in the car park: “I’m pregnant… and it’s yours.” Caleb stands still, stammering: “Chas… don’t joke like that.”

There was no music, just the sound of the wind whistling – and the dead stares of the two. The next scene, Chas sat alone in the church, her hand on her stomach, whispering: “I’m not afraid of being a mother. I’m just afraid that this truth will kill us all.”

Fans were buzzing, predicting that the secret, once exposed, would plunge the Dingle–Miligan relationship into all-out war.