Paddy manages to lose baby Eve
IN THE MIDST OF MARLON’S MEDICAL DRAMA, PADDY’S DAUGHTER GOES MISSING…
Paddy’s leisurely drive with his little girl Eve and his best pal Marlon proves catastrophic this week, when Marlon crumples over in pain and appears to be suffering a heart attack.
With his baby daughter tucked up asleep in her car seat, panicked Paddy drives Marlon to the nearest hospital – but as he rushes his mate inside to receive emergency medical help, he inadvertently ends up leaving Eve behind. Horrified to later realise what he’s done, Paddy bombs back out to the car – where Eve is nowhere to be seen! And as the horror sinks in, Paddy falls apart…
“It’s just blind panic for him,” shares Dominic Brunt, who plays the desperate dad. “He runs out and tries to find his daughter, and hopes he’ll open the car door and she’ll be there, so he can take her out, say sorry and be on his way to admonishing himself. But he gets to the car, and she’s not there. So he thinks, ‘That’s it – she’s been taken!’”
This horrifying consequence of what was intended to be a relaxing sojourn for stressed-out Marlon is the very last thing Paddy was expecting. When Rhona invites Marlon – who has recently been released from jail after being wrongly arrested for murdering Graham – for a coffee at the start of the week, she’s disturbed to realise that his anxiety levels are a lot worse than she thought…
“Selfishly, Paddy’s just glad to have Marlon out of prison, and he assumes his mate must be thrilled too,” admits Dominic. “But it’s shaken Marlon’s world, and he sees everything differently now – he was on remand while innocent of a crime, so now he reckons we’re only ever one error away from being dragged behind bars!”
It’s after Marlon is called in on at home by two police officers that Paddy makes the suggestion that they head out for a calming drive with baby Eve – not realising the full extent of Marlon’s distress.
“When the police turn up, Marlon panics because he thinks he’s being taken back to jail again,” explains Dominic. “Physically and mentally, it hits him really hard. But Paddy’s still not aware of how bad things are – and he ends up suggesting the drive because he thinks it’ll cheer Marlon up.
“Paddy’s not aware how bad things are for Marlon”
Once they’re on the road, Marlon tells Paddy how terrible he feels – although Paddy just keeps pointing out the lovely views, thinking that it will take Marlon’s mind off everything. Paddy’s a fool!”
Eventually, after Marlon tells Paddy that he’s suffering a dull ache down his arm, the penny begins to drop. Worried that Marlon could be having a heart attack, Paddy puts his foot down and they speed off to Hotten General…
“Paddy screams to the hospital in the hope of getting there before Marlon needs CPR,” Dominic tells us. “When they eventually get there, he drags Marlon out of the car and shouts for help. He says to Marlon, ‘I’m not leaving your side – you don’t have to worry about it, I’m with you all the way’. And he is – until about two hours later when he finally remembers that Eve is still in the car, he’s left the door open, and it’s freezing cold outside…”
Sprinting back to his car, Paddy is distraught as he realises that Eve has gone missing. He’s with Rhona at the time – and both she and Paddy immediately fear the absolute worst has happened.
“Straight away Rhona says, ‘That’s it, she’s been taken’,” sighs Dominic. “Paddy’s panicking more and more, he’s grabbing people and saying, ‘Have you seen anybody with a child?’ He’s convinced that Eve has been taken as well. As a parent, it must be one of the worst things ever.
“This is a really poor comparison, but when my car was stolen, I initially thought, ‘Where have I put it?’” adds the star. “The last thing on my mind was that someone had taken it. But after checking everywhere around the car for Eve, Paddy just thinks, ‘That’s it – someone’s taken her.’”
With Marlon still very unwell and being treated inside the hospital, can Paddy manage to pull himself together in time to find his daughter before she comes to any harm?