Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson)’s life is about to change in an instant on

Emmerdale when he makes the shock discovery that newly-returned Tina

Dingle (Samantha Power) is, in fact, his mother. We saw Tina turn up at

the graveside when the family were holding the funeral for Zak (Steve Halliwell). From the reactions of the older family members it was clear that Tina wasn’t welcome, but Mandy (Lisa Riley) in particular seemed extremely upset. ‘Tina’s certainly a loud sort of character,’ Bradley Johnson recalled. ‘But then we could see Mandy being very shady towards her.’ It soon became clear that the reason for this was that Mandy has been hiding a secret for the whole of Vinny’s life. Tina is actually Vinny’s biological mother, and Tina used this fact to blackmail Mandy into helping her get her hands on Wishing Well. ‘We saw in the lockdown episodes Mandy really opening up to Vinny and telling him the truth about what happened and him growing up,’ Bradley said. ‘Mandy told him this story about how his real mother didn’t want him, and his grandma. She explained everything to Vinny so he was clued up about his past before Mandy. I felt like he was happy with that.’

But it’s not long before Tina takes a wrecking ball to the close mother-and-son relationship between Mandy and Vinny by telling Vinny the truth, that he’s her son. Bradley told us what happens. ‘We see the scene where Vinny’s coming out of the Dingles’ and Mandy’s walking up and, off-screen, clearly Tina has told Vinny everything about Tina being his real mother. ‘I think Vinny’s just distraught, because the trust that he had with Mandy and everything she’s told him has been a lie all of his life. I think Vinny is quite aware of what Mandy’s like, she lies through her teeth sometimes but he never thought she’d tell such a big lie to Vinny and I think he’s just angry, distraught and completely resents Mandy.’

While being the biological son of the ruthless and selfish Tina may not be the ideal outcome for Vinny, there’s one aspect of it that Bradley really welcomes. After being an honorary Dingle for so many years, he’s now discovered that he’s ‘blood Dingle’ and genetically part of Emmerdale’s most famous family. ‘Tina’s come into his life, and actually she’s blood Dingle. It’s not somebody random, it’s actual blood Dingle,’ Bradley enthused.

‘That makes Zak his granddad, Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) and Sam (James Hooton) his aunt and uncle. It’s a big deal for him and I think he knows that she’s not the nicest of characters, but he hopes she’ll do the right thing and stick around and be the mother that she’s not been for 20-odd years.’ It obviously means a lot to Bradley for his character to be a genuine Dingle. ‘To be a biological Dingle is amazing,’ he confirmed. ‘When I first came into the show all I got told was that I was playing Mandy’s son, then I found out I wasn’t a Dingle and it was sort of upsetting. Everybody wants to be a blood Dingle. ‘Then when I found out I thought it’s a great twist and a great opportunity to be an actual Dingle. When I found out that Zak’s my real granddad and I’m actually blood, it’s a great feeling.’