I miss the days when a date were a pork pie, a cuddle, and a walk 'ome on yer own in t'rain.


Honestly no idea, sorry! Sure someone will recognise them though.


The small and very select Spencer Fan club.

No sorry, think it was before I was watching - it looks quite an old pic. Chris Chittell looks very young on it.

Mini Synopsis of Ep

Ashley found out about Gabby and went from wanting to take custody from Bernice to wanting Lawrence to have custody of Gabby when he forgets her. I know he's forgetful but that ridiculous, did Lawrence brainwash him or something

Also Ashley plans not to tell Gabby about this until after he forgets, what's gabby's opinion going to be on this then

Bernice Er Gabby your father has forgotten you but Lawrence is going to adopt you isn't that nice
Gabby - Splutter in horror, since her father isn't dead yet and she's appalled by the very idea.

Meanwhile Andy is claiming that he had a bit of a nightmare Childrhood, but his family got him though it, well half of it since he murdered his mother and helped in the cover up of the death of his teacher, while getting Debbie pregnant.

Pearl is concerned about Rhona and Paddy who are rowing in the car for all to hear.

Stuff happened in the Aaron case and the actor seemed to have run dry with the tears what on earth is he going to do.

And Robert paid the worlds worst dancer to claim that Gordon the sex pest gopher that he's sex pested him.

Its time like this I almost miss Gross Dross bashing people over the head.

BIB: Ashley has dementia and dementia is not a joking matter. My grandfather had Alzheimer's for several years before he died. He didn't know anybody, family or friends, in the final 18 months, it was heartbreaking.

My Granny had alzheimers aswell Andy and it's horrendous. However I have joked about the Ashley stuff as it's nicer to laugh than to be sad about it.

It's an awful thing and I just read today that Alzheimers or dementia in one form or another is actually now the second biggest killer disease today, after heart disease.

Shocking yes, but black and 'graveyard' humour has always existed and always will. Maybe it's how we defy and cope with some of life's horrors? Maybe we'd all go mad if we stopped seeing the humour in the darkest of times? I don't know, but I do believe our sense of humour is probably the single biggest asset we uniquely as humans possess.

Exactly. Brilliantly put Jaded

Yes, it is...

Yes; I'm one of the Worlds worst for black humour lol- but it can help sometimes, a bit of 'gallows humour'

Sorry for being a bit sensitive. The father of one of my work colleagues died a few days ago and he had Alzheimer's. He was such a lovely man,.. And knowing what my colleague was going through brought all that stuff about my grandfather to the forefront so to speak.

I am sure Ashley wouldn't have given away the real Gabby. As with most Emmerdale marriages, Lawrence and Bernice' will last about 3 months; what will happen with new Gabby then?

I get a lump in my throat when I watch the Ashley storyline. JM's acting as a dementia sufferer is exceptional and it brings back raw memories to me because a family member of mine had this illness a long time ago. Deep condolences to other FMs who have experienced it

It's a terrible disease Andy..

It's really good. I couldn't see how they could make a story out of, but watching Ashley try to sort out his life and make arrangements for when he can't be in control of it any more is actually really well done. JM is playing a blinder.

Agreed, and sad and disturbing as the sl is, (in that it's something that a majority of viewers will experience directly or indirectly sooner or later), it's also a joy to see an excellent actor giving a masterclass on how real drama is done - something that is all too rare in soaps these days. Well done, John.

Only he's kind of not - at the moment, is he?

He's currently just being written as a fully functioning man who knows he's going to lose his mind / die.

At the moment - he might just as well be a character who's been told he's going to die of cancer - his actual dementia has just been relegated to an off-screen "thing"

I don't think anybody can deny this. He is excellent in this story, and I am so glad Ashley is finally being brought back to the forefront of the show after spending so much time away due to a certain storyline.

I don't agree tbh, sheepie. Long-running slow burners like this can't dominate every ep - people get bored too easily. These things go on for years irl and not every day's a nightmare. People have perfectly normal spells for periods of time - they don't usually go from diagnosis to gibbering wreck overnight, so I think it's perfectly realistic. (And as viewers, we know the sl goes on until at least the end of the year, so there's more than enough time to show his ongoing and inevitable decline).

I loathe Ashley.

He's brilliant. It's a tough thing to pull off as well, because he has to be quite unlikeable sometimes, scared and aggressive and short-tempered.


Is that because he was vile in the past? Or just a dislike dislike? Someone else was saying the same just the other day - they can't get past what he did, just like some can't get past what Andy did to Jo.

Seeing Gabby has been mentioned above, maybe I could go ''off track'' for a minute?
How, why and when did the old Gabby disappear and the new appear? Did I miss some announcement? Any info appreciated.

Old Gabby disappeared upstairs a month or so ago, after some lovely scenes with her Dad. She came down a full blown teenager with a different but similar head, though they had been talking about Bernice giving her a makeover before that.

I'm not sure if there was an official announcement, and no one seems to be completely sure why they did it. Maybe because they wanted an actress with a bit more range, and a couple of years older, who could handle bigger stories? Just speculation though.

Thanks for that. Took me awhile to realise there had been a switch - kept wondering who the new girl was, until I realised we had a 'new' Gabby!

You're welcome. There wasn't even a gap, tbh, she didn't go away for a few weeks or anything. It was switched from one epi to another. Confusing if you missed a bit.

Tbh, I think the Ash/Sandy thing was all blown totally out of proportion on here with silly ott terms such as 'father-beater' etc. Of course what he did was wrong, but he didn't 'beat' him - he shouted at him a few times and lashed out once at a time when he was under great stress for one reason or another, and at a man he had never had a good relationship with. Even Sandy recognises that and bears no grudge. Unfortunately it's just the way DS works - hell, some fms will never stop (incorrectly) calling Laurel 'dog murderer'.

Poor Tray was very hard done by with the Laurel/Moron thing, through absolutely no fault of his own, (hence Laurel came crawling back soon enough). I won't hear a word against him.