Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
STAG NIGHT HORROR!
Paul leaves his son Vinny for dead on the eve of his wedding to Mandy, as the Emmerdale actors who play them reveal
Paul’s stag do ends in horror this week in Emmerdale when he batters his son Vinny so badly that he fears he’s killed him. What’s supposed to be a celebration before Paul marries Mandy takes a brutal turn when Vinny threatens to expose his dad’s fake kidnapping.
Terrified that Mandy – Vinny’s adoptive mum – will call off the wedding, Paul blows his top and knocks Vinny unconscious. ‘Paul fears he’s killed Vinny,’ says Reece Dinsdale, who plays the father. ‘Vinny hits the deck and the horror hits Paul immediately.’
Paul, who’s recently become violent towards Vinny like his own dad was to him, believes getting married will change him for the better. ‘He feels in his own deluded way that life will be complete when he marries Mandy,’ says Reece, 61. ‘He tells Vinny he’ll be better when they’re a family, that this thing he’s wanted all his life will settle it. But life doesn’t work like that.’
Knowing what a monster Paul can be and keen not to upset his mum, Vinny’s been doing his best to keep them both happy. ‘Vinny will do anything for Mandy and has seen how happy Paul makes her,’ says Bradley Johnson, who’s appeared as Vinny since 2019. ‘Paul is playing mind games, saying he wants to get better. Vinny’s trying to get along with him to keep on his good side and stop him getting angry, and he wants to believe his dad’s changed for Mandy’s sake.’
But after Paul gets details about the kidnapping mixed up, Bradley says ‘alarm bells ring’ for Vinny, who simply cannot let it lie, and tells Paul he’s seen the kidnappers’ van at the scrapyard. This blows Paul’s story out of the water, and Vinny then overhears his panicked, debt-ridden dad reveal on the phone how he made the whole drama up to con Vinny’s girlfriend Liv out of her inheritance. ‘Vinny feels angry and betrayed,’ says Bradley. ‘He wants to confront his dad but forgets what he’s capable of.’
Unfortunately, it could be murder, says Reece. ‘He knows he would be gone from Mandy’s life if she found out. Vinny is niggling away at Paul and the red mist descends. He hates himself for it, but he can’t stop himself.’
It’s a different story for Reece and Bradley, who’ve relished bringing the plotline to the screen even if it has been all-consuming. ‘With a big storyline like this there’s no rest,’ says Reece, who joined the show last year. ‘Even at the weekend, we have to prep for Monday. It’s incessant. I do watch a bit of football and spend time with my family, but not much.’
Bradley, 23, adds, ‘It’s been nice to play a different side to Vinny, and it’s been a pleasure to be involved in the storyline, though I sometimes go home and can still see Reece’s evil eyes staring at me!’
Whatever happens next, Reece says the storyline is far from over. ‘The writers are being very brave,’ he says. ‘What they’re doing is something special to be involved in, and it’s inflammatory stuff. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.’