Emmerdale's Ross Barton shared some devastating news with Charity Dingle when he told her his former partner Rebecca White was dead.
Six years have passed since troublemaker Ross, portrayed by Mike Parr, left the village with his then-partner Rebecca and her son, Seb, for a fresh start in Liverpool.
Charity (Emma Atkins) had remained in touch with him to allow her son Moses to have a relationship with his father, and in scenes aired on Wednesday (October 30), Ross and Charity spoke about their parental responsibilities, while the former also teased the Woolpack landlady over her marriage with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb). Charity responded by seeking an explanation from Rebecca but when the latter's phone rang without any response, Ross was forced to tell her she had died.
Ross said that Rebecca's death had been partially caused by heart issues, explaining she had died during a routine surgical procedure. Charity asked about her son Seb, leading Ross to add that Seb had been taken away from him because, at the time of Rebecca's death, she and Ross were separated.
So, who was Rebecca?
Introduced as the daughter of the late Lawrence White and half-sister of Chrissie White, Rebecca, portrayed by actress Emily Head, was also the aunt of Emmerdale serial killer Lachlan White.
Before she bonded with Ross, Rebecca was involved with her sister's ex-husband Robert Sugden. Lachlan was keen to expose Rebecca's affair with Robert on her 30th birthday, which caused havoc in her relationship with Chrissie. But things went from bad to worse when Rebecca found out she was pregnant after romping with Robert and enjoying a brief fling with Ross.
Robert was quickly identified as the father of the unborn baby but wanted nothing to do with the child. Seb was born in November, 2017, triggering a huge custody battle later on. But perhaps Rebecca's biggest hurdle was Lachlan, as the villain triggered a car crash which not only claimed the lives of Chrissie and her father Lawrence, but also left Rebecca with a brain injury.
Rebecca eventually got together with Ross further following his acid attack and the pair left Emmerdale for a fresh start in Liverpool, where Ross managed to get a job. Since then, Rebecca hadn't been seen or heard from in the Dales.
But what really happened to her - and has she really died?
Speaking about his return, Mike Parr said: "It wasn't necessarily a shock.
"The acting industry had been quite quiet due to the writer strikes and stuff, and I had some work on the horizon. So when they called, it came at a great time. But it also meant that I had some big decisions to make because I couldn't do both of the jobs. But ultimately, Emmerdale felt like home, and it was a good storyline which they pitched to me.
"Laura Shaw, our producer, she's very charming, and she put it all out to me, like, 'this is where we want it to go. This is what we want to do'. It meant that I got to move back up north again. It just came at the right time." But what trouble will he bring to the village?
