Emmerdale star Emma Atkins has predicted tough times ahead for her character Charity after the deadly events of Christmas.
Charity was forced to come to the rescue of her husband Mack (Lawrence Robb) on Christmas Day after he was kidnapped by Harry (Robert Beck) - the gangster father of Mack's girlfriend Chloe (Jessie Elland).
In tense scenes, with Harry about to kill Mack, Charity had no choice but to shoot Harry, resulting in his death.
Since then Charity has been plagued with anxiety and PTSD - and in next week's episodes, she attempts to take back control by trashing Harry's grave.
"I think she feels she needs a release," Atkins explained. "She feels haunted by Harry so she decides to visit his grave to see if she can get any forgiveness of some kind. She tells him to stop haunting her and that's her way of trying to get herself back as she's slowly losing her own sense of self.
"She goes looking for some answers at the grave. She has this outburst where she tells him it was an accident and tells him to stop tormenting her. It's torture and every which way she turns she doesn't find the solution.
"Killing someone is very different from anything else, it's the unknown and she's entered into very disturbing territory for her own mental health."
Asked why this incident in particular has affected Charity so much, she replied: "It's the reality that she can't put this right, there's no going back. Her body and mind can't physically erase the trauma she has been through.
"I can't imagine what that must be like for anyone to ever experience but I can fully appreciate that her PTSD is completely overwhelming and entrapping because you can't rewind time or escape these powerful physical triggers.
"Even beyond the challenges presented by her PTSD, Charity is plagued with guilt because she can't put things right, she can't say sorry and it will be okay because there's no going back. She feels so out of her comfort zone and so out of control on all levels. With everything else she's been able to put it in a box and compartmentalise.
"But with this it's spilling over into unknown territory. She's never experienced this before and she has no idea what to do. She's never been in this situation. It's hellish knowing she can't put this right."
Emmerdale continues weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
> Picture Spoilers: Next week on Emmerdale (Feb 19-23)
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