Emmerdale tonight was a huge twist in the Anthony murder storyline when it turned out Aaron didn’t kill him after all. Of course, viewers had suspected all along someone else had finished the job – and it turned out that someone was Ruby. With Caleb’s help.

But as Aaron, John, Ruby and Caleb came up with a plan to cover everything up, the foursome look set to be derailed after Laurel decided to confess to the police.

Here’s everything that happened in Emmerdale tonight, Thursday January 30.

The truth about Anthony’s murderer was revealed

Aaron confessed

Aaron was overwhelmed as John gave him a pep talk about keeping it together. He couldn’t stop thinking about self-harming. So he went to see Ruby, who was desperate to avoid talking to him.

“I’m scared I’m going to do something really bad,” he told her. He confessed he had a history of self-harming and was getting the urges to do it again. Ruby tried to talk him down telling him not to dwell on the past. He told her about Gordon hanging himself and apologised for taking justice away from Ruby.

Aaron then confessed: “I killed him, Ruby, I killed your dad.”

Ruby confessed who had really killed Anthony in Emmerdale

As he recounted what had happened, Ruby begged him to stop, but then she stopped him with her own bombshell: “You didn’t kill him. I did.”

We flashed back (again) as Ruby told Aaron what had happened. She had found Anthony in a bad way, but still alive. She was going to leave him, but then when he touched her she snapped, grabbed a rag and suffocated him to death.

Aaron was shellshocked that she then allowed him to think he had killed someone. She insisted she had been going to the police, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell her children everything. Ruby told Caleb, who said he would make it all go away.

Caleb went to the depot to clean up, but found out John and Aaron had got there first. Aaron was devastated that they didn’t say anything to him and were trying to frame him.

Caleb played bad cop

Mid-conversation, Caleb returned and discovered Ruby had confessed and Aaron thought he has been set up for murder.

Caleb played bad cop and said if Aaron reported them all roads led back to him so he’d be landing himself in it. But Ruby broke down and begged Aaron not to go to the police, revealing the truth about Anthony being Steph’s real dad.

The cover-up completed

Aaron called John and the four of them laid out their next plan. John was obviously furious, but Caleb pointed out they were all culpable and needed to work together to get their stories straight.

John assured them Anthony’s body would not be found. Their story is he’s a free spirit who’s gone off to blow his fortune before he dies.

The only remaining worry was Steph searching for her grandad. But Caleb assured she would give up eventually.

However, then Chas walked in and had overheard the last part of the conversation, so wanted answers. Aaron was adamant he was going to tell Chas the truth. But would she agree to the cover-up?

Laurel ruined everything in Emmerdale tonight

Laurel was still wittering on. Kerry reported to Nicola she’d seen Laurel with a bottle of vodka, so Nicola went to search Laurel’s recycling.

Laurel insisted there was only one bottle and she poured it down the sink. She doesn’t want to go to meetings, she doesn’t want to talk to anyone, she wants to tell her secret. For goodness sake, Laurel, just give it a rest.

She sees it as a decision between confessing and going to prison or starting to drink again.

Nicola found out from Chas that Anthony had supposedly been seen and had just left of his own accord, but she was too late to inform Laurel who was at the police station, confessing she had killed someone.

So she is about to ruin everything for everyone. Bloomin’ Laurel.

Eric and Bob helped each other in Emmerdale tonight

Kerry was still trying to get through to Eric, but he was reluctant to engage with her. He was acting suspiciously and it didn’t take Kerry long to find his stash of arson equipment and realise what he was planning.

Eric insisted it was a victimless crime, but Kerry then confessed she started the fire that killed Frank. Pollard was still determined to go ahead with his plan, just saying he wouldn’t be so stupid as to let anyone get hurt.

Pollard went to visit Val’s gravestone to talk things through, but there he encountered Bob, sobbing. Bob had been avoiding going to see Heath’s headstone due to his overwhelming grief. The two had a heart to heart as Eric encouraged Bob to accept Heath was gone and try to celebrate his life.

Bob later returned home to offer his support to Cathy and told her he was ready to see Heath’s headstone. Together he and Cathy took all of Heath’s favourite foods and celebrated Heath’s life at the graveyard.

It seemed his chat with Bob had helped Eric too as he realised nothing was going to bring Brenda back to him. He was not going to burn down the shop. Fortuntately.

Also in Emmerdale tonight…

Matty returned home to apologise to Amy. He explained his reservations over having kids. But then he told her he wanted them to adopt.

They then told Kyle what they were planning and he was on board with it – as long as it’s a sister.