Emmerdale fans uncover second stabbing plot victim!

Emmerdale Mack Moira
Emmerdale Moira kept a vigil at brother Mack's bedside (Image credit: ITV)

Emmerdale’s latest episode saw the residents of the village breathe a sigh of relief as it seemed Mack would pull through following his recent stabbing by traumatised wife Charity.

However, the viewers of the show were left with another feeling after Friday’s episode – one of déjà vu about the whole story!

Emmerdale Mack

The Mack attack shocked Emmerdale viewers (Image credit: ITV)

Emmerdale Charity

Charity's nightmares ended in real-life terror (Image credit: ITV)

Charity has been plagued by anxiety and nightmares since she shot and killed gangster Harry Harris last Christmas. Things spiralled out of control this week when, during a nightmare, she lashed out and stabbed Mack.

It’s been clear Charity has been suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which sees people suffer anxiety, flashbacks and sleepless nights after they are involved in traumatic events.

Emmerdale spoilers, Charity Dingle

Charity can't get over the fact she took a life (Image credit: ITV)

However, Emmerdale fans watching this week realised that this isn’t the first time the soap has seen a traumatised Dingle woman stab someone by mistake and leave them fighting for their life.

Back in 2015, it was Chastity, not Charity, who was wielding the knife, while the victim was Diane Sugden rather than Mack.

Viewers took to social media as they realised the similarities between the two plots.

“Didn't Chas stab Diane after having a PTSD episode?” questioned one as the memory came flooding back. While another sarcastically commented: “Old scripts never die, they just get recycled on Emmerdale.”

And these viewers with long memories were spot on. 

2015 saw a series of big dramatic events finally get on top of Chas. Not only had she been convinced for a time she’d murdered Carl King, but she was later held hostage in the Woolpack by Cameron Murray before almost drowning in the flooded cellar. 

But it was when Robert Sugden was then shot as he stood right in front of her that Chas’ terror really kicked in. We saw her becoming convinced that someone was stalking her (in fact, she was sleepwalking and moving things around in the Woolpack herself).

Emmerdale Diane Chas

Poor Diane suffered for Chas' trauma (Image credit: ITV)

Emmerdale Chas

Chas lashed out in terror (Image credit: ITV)

Then, late one night, Chas thought the ‘intruder’ had returned to the pub, grabbed a knife for defence ­– and accidentally stabbed Diane!

As Diane was rushed to hospital, Chas was released on bail, but later had a psychotic episode where she hallucinated various village residents, leading her friends and family to realise that she needed professional help.

Emmerdale Diane

Diane's family were shocked at what Chas had done (Image credit: ITV)

Sadly, in current-day Emmerdale, Chas is off on holiday at the moment, or perhaps she might have spotted her cousin’s troubles before things came to a head.

We saw Charity face the police, and try to explain herself, but will she be able to convince them that what happened was just a terrible accident? 

Here’s hoping for Charity’s sake that the police have the same long memories Emmerdale viewers obviously do!

Emmerdale screens on ITV1 on weekdays at 7.30pm, including an hour-long episode on Thursdays.

See our TV Guide for full listings.

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Steven Murphy
Writer

Steven is a writer, editor, and commentator with a passion for popular TV and soap operas. He spent 20 years as the editor of Inside Soap magazine, documenting every punch-up and pucker-up in the Street, the Square and the village. As a feature writer, he’s covered TV crime dramas, period dramas and even some real-life star dramas. He’s been seen as a talking head on more TV clip shows than he cares to remember, has a life-long passion for TV sci-fi – the older and creakier the better – and is a slight obsessive about any reality show featuring hotels.