Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) has brought out Ray Walters’ (Joe Absolom) human side, the side where he gets to forget he has a mother with a lump of coal for a heart who has him running a modern slavery racket in Emmerdale.

There have been the odd glimmers of Ray’s good side, like the effect that learning dying Anya had a daughter had on him, and like the fact April is somehow still alive, but the defining moment was when Ray opted to stay behind at Laurel’s and comb her hair for nits rather than return to the farm that reeks of forced labour and death.

There’s a whole new side to Ray whenever he’s around the Hide waitress, proving himself to be a big softie and not just a cold-blooded killer and his mother’s pawn.

But things soured a little between the two, particularly when nosey Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) went in search of information about him online and found he had no digital footprint. Red flag in this digital age.

He’s been quite enjoying his little dalliance with Laurel and isn’t ready to let it go. He lays on a cutesie little picnic for her and allows himself to become a bit vulnerable to show he cares. Laurel is touched to see this raw side of Ray and decides to give him one more chance.

She’s completely taken by him, with no idea what he’s truly capable of or what he’s done – and planning to do – to April, Dylan, and Bear.

But fiercely protective Nicola surely won’t let things drop and will likely keep digging – will she put Laurel in danger?

With Celia Daniels actress Jaye Griffiths having confirmed Celia’s on borrowed time, it’s clear someone does expose the exploitation ring she’s running, but Celia isn’t one to go down without a fight and whoever tries to cross her might end up in the same place as Anya.