In November it was revealed that Emmerdale legend Lesley Dunlop, who has played Brenda Walker for 16 years, was about to leave the Dales.

It’s now been revealed how Brenda will exit the soap and it looks as though her ending could be a happy one.

This will be a huge contrast to recent departures from the soap. We saw Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi), Suzy Merton (Martelle Edinborough) and Amy Barton (Natalie Ann Jamieson) meeting their doom in a fateful limo crash, which left many people in the village bereaved and coping with the loss of a loved one.

By contrast, it looks like Brenda could be heading off on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise.

She wins the cruise in a competition in a magazine, but at first she decides she won’t take the prize. Her friend and co-owner of the cafe Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) can’t understand why Brenda would want to pass up on such an opportunity, and sets about getting her hands on the tickets for herself and Jimmy (Nick Miles).

Nicola’s plan is thwarted when Brenda announces she’s had a change of heart and has decided to go on the cruise alone. That still leaves a spare ticket, so Nicola changes tactic to get Brenda to take her along. Obviously this doesn’t go down well with Jimmy – but will Brenda agree to Nicola’s proposal?

Jimmy is not above doing a bit of plotting himself, and tells Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) that there could still be a chance for his and Brenda’s relationship to be mended.

The couple broke up after it came to light that Pollard had squandered all of Brenda’s savings by investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. They had been about to get married and the truth came to light about what Pollard had been up to when Brenda found there wasn’t any money in her account to pay for her wedding dress.

Eric being scammed was partly due to the symptoms of his Parkinson’s, but it was a step too far for Brenda who had already been through a lot of turmoil with him. She declared that their engagement, and their relationship, was over.

Brenda talks to Pollard, but with Jimmy’s encouraging words in his ears it’s not long before he’s getting the wrong end of the stick. His hopes are high for a reconciliation – but is Brenda about to break his heart again?

And if she does sail off into the sunset, who will be going with her?