During Tuesday night’s harrowing episode of Emmerdale, fans watched a special standalone instalment that recounted the heartbreaking story of April (played by Amelia Flanagan) and her life on the streets.

Over the past few weeks, Marlon (Mark Charnock) and Rhona (Zoe Henry) have been experiencing the emotional turmoil a family faces when a young person goes missing. In Monday’s episode, they found out that April had been found.

However, in distressing scenes, April confided to another young homeless boy that she was pregnant, which was the reason she couldn’t return to the village.

“Why did I have to get pregnant? This baby has ruined my whole life,” April sobbed.

“If that’s what you’re thinking now, what do you think it’s going to be like when you’re a mum?” he replied. “Because that’s what you’re going to be, April, a mum.”

“I said shut up,” the youngster shouted before storming off.

As the episode came to a close, fans witnessed April giving birth in a gym toilet. April sobbed and apologised to the baby after realising it was stillborn.

Fans took to social media to share their thoughts about April’s storyline, with many speculating about who the father of the baby could be.

Taking to a Facebook fan page, one fan questioned: “April was pregnant before she ran away but who did she sleep with, do we know?”

Another fan theorised: “Could be Ross.”

“That would be a shock,” a third added while someone else went on: “It annoys me they have come up with another storyline with no context. The only lad we see April knocking about with is Arthur.”

Another fan asked: “So who is April pregnant by?” to which one replied: “Anthony.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” one more agreed as someone echoed: “I think Anthony.”

One viewer stated: “I think it is someone in the village.”

Regarding the importance of April’s heartbreaking episode, Emmerdale Producer Laura Shaw commented: “April’s flashback episode is a heartbreaking depiction of life on the street as a teenage girl.”Continuing to take guidance from the fabulous team at Missing People, it was incredibly important that we didn’t shy away from the agonising journey that April would go through and their help was invaluable in making sure the episode has the authenticity required. Amelia Flanagan’s outstanding performance makes this arguably, one of Emmerdale’s stand out episodes of this year and promises to start a new journey for the character of April, forever changed by her time living on the city streets.”