Inside Soap UK 25 - 2019

“Our job really is like gossiping with friends” What’s nice about working on Inside Soap, is that sometimes our job really is like gossiping with old friends. Take our chat with Charlotte Bellamy – aka Emmerdale’s Laurel – this week. While it’s always a pleasure to catch up with Charlotte, who’s long been an Inside Soap favourite, there’s an extra layer of fun because we both get to gossip about Laurel – what we think about her life right now, her new man, even her new clothes – just as you would with a real-life mate! As it happens, we were both in agreement that Laurel’s on to a good thing at the moment – but see p42 for the full chat. And if it’s gossip you want, then there’s…

Former con Billy’s efforts to go straight result in disaster this week – as gun-toting gangster Max takes the villager’s innocent family hostage! “Marlon and Jessie realise that they’re in danger…” Marlon, Jessie and April are all caught in the crossfire after Billy helps the police to set up thieving Max. But the plan backfires when Max escapes the trap and heads over to Tall Trees Cottage to lie in wait for Billy. Yet it’s the rest of the clan who arrive home first – to be confronted by the violent criminal, who is armed and dangerous! “After Jessie sees Max, for her it means war!” explains Sandra Marvin, who plays the mum. “Marlon hasn’t met Max before, so he’s just shocked there’s this man in his house. They don’t…

Do you think Jessie has let her sons dominate her life too much? She really has. Jessie has been so consumed with getting Billy and Ellis on the straight and narrow that she’s lost sight of being April’s stepmum. She has a duty to April and to her new husband, but because Billy was beaten up straight after leaving jail, Jessie had to sort that out. She went into lioness mode. What advice would you give to Jessie? Girl, really? I’d be knocking her head against the wall from the time she got married and then let her son, who had just come out of prison, live in the house alongside a nine-year-old girl. I’d have made him stand on his own two feet a bit, and Ellis too. I’d…

Ian Beale returns to Walford this week, and endures a painful reunion with his son, Bobby. And the awkwardness only increases when Ian makes the lad show his face in public, by taking him for a drink at the Vic! After several months away in New Zealand, visiting his other son, Peter, Ian finally arrives home – and is shocked to see Bobby. After a tongue-lashing from his mum, Kathy, for not getting in touch while he was away, Ian tentatively reaches out to his boy. However, with Bobby still nursing feelings of guilt for killing his sister Lucy, it’s clear that the road ahead will be far from easy… “Bobby doesn’t want to talk to anyone, least of all his dad,” sighs our Square insider. “He’s severely depressed, and…

As if Ian needed another reason to hate Max – this week he discovers he owns a business with him! As far as Ian is aware, his co-owner at Walford East is Masood Ahmed. However, Masood left for Australia in February – selling his share of the eatery to Max. So when Ian calls in to the restaurant to see how things are going, he’s aghast to find the place being run by Masood’s nieces – Iqra and Habiba – and then stunned to be told what Mas has done! Ian flies into a rage, and yells at Kathy for not keeping him informed about Masood’s decision – but his mother points out that she was unable to get hold of him in New Zealand, so couldn’t have told him…

Robert continues lying to his fiancée Michelle and pregnant partner Vicky this week. But as Vicky becomes suspicious and asks him if he’s back with Michelle, at home future son-in-law Ryan susses that something is up – how long can Robert keep his secrets? “Vicky has her suspicions about Robert, because he’s always making excuses and disappearing,” admits Kerri Quinn, who plays the chef’s other woman. “But I don’t think for one minute that she would suspect him of living a double life. She’d be devastated if she knew, as I think she’s genuinely fallen in love with Robert. Right now, she’s more concerned about his feelings for Michelle, because Vicky knows how much she meant to Robert…” “Vicky loves Robert – she doesn’t want to let him go!” Robert…