In Emmerdale right now Lydia Dingle is dealing with the devastating aftermath of being raped by old friend Craig Reed.
The performances have been moving and heartbreaking from Karen Blick, aka, Lydia, and chilling from Ben Addis (Craig). But the storyline itself has totally missed the mark.
It feels uncomfortable – and it’s meant to feel that way – but in this case, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Lydia is raped in Emmerdale
After reconnecting with old friend Craig, Lydia broke the news to him he was the father of her baby, Toby. She told him Toby had died at birth and then took Craig to see their son’s final resting place.
The grief bonded them and they almost shared a kiss. But Lydia insisted she loved her husband, Sam, and tried to resign from cleaning Craig’s offices.
Craig refused to accept her resignation and then made a move on her. Lydia told him no. She told him she didn’t want to, but he forced himself on her anyway.
Afterwards, Craig drove Lydia home and acted like nothing had happened.
Lydia has not told anyone, is trying to carry on as normal, but it’s clear there is something very wrong.
Lydia Dingle’s Emmerdale rape storyline is not new
Rape is always going to be an incredibly sensitive issue. However the soap had covered it, someone would complain. But with the route this particular storyline is taking, it’s hard not to.
There are several things that have gone wrong here.
One fan has pointed out on Reddit that the storyline hasn’t offered anything new. Soaps have covered rape before and this doesn’t feel any different.
“We’ve had so many rape storylines in British soaps and in Emmerdale alone,” they wrote. “So when this was announced I was disappointed it really just feels like whenever they can’t come up with something for a female character to do they throw a rape story at them.
“And so far it’s been very cliched when it comes to rape storylines in soaps. They meet, they get on Craig seems like a nice guy for a bit then there’s an awkward encounter where he tries to make a move on her then there’s the actual assault.”
They then continued: “And afterwards there’s the victim not telling anyone and suffering in silence washing themselves, crying to themselves and lashing out at their loved ones and the attacker denying it making out like it was consensual.
“Like I said, this storyline hasn’t done anything new it isn’t telling us anything we don’t already know and it isn’t showing us something we haven’t already seen before multiple times. I’m sorry but this storyline is pointless.”
Many agreed: “100% agreed and what a waste for her character. She’s been sidelined so much recently, she finally gets her own story and this is how they treated it. I wish they would either stop doing these plots or would change it up.”
“It’s lazy writing and I have yet to see ANY soap do the issue justice. Also – at this point, the message we should [send] as human beings is just not tolerate it on any level,” said one more.
Rinse and repeat
Others have accused the soap of ‘repeating’ the storyline done with Lisa Dingle.
“It’s a repeat of Lisa’s storyline from a decade ago – and way too soon after Victoria’s rape,” said one.
Someone else wasn’t quite so kind: “They didn’t know what to do with her, so they said…rape her. Reuse the exact same Lisa Dingle story, down to the script, but it’s basically just been torture porn towards a nice and timid character and who they thought it would be extra brutal and emotional to have be raped.”
However harsh, it’s a fair point.
Of course soaps will reuse storylines – it’s impossible not to, but the baby angle aside, this is the exact carbon copy of Lisa’s storyline.
Lydia needs to speak out in Emmerdale
There has also been fury at Lydia burning her clothes, with viewers urging the soap to show her ‘taking the power back’.
Although others have accused these complainers of ‘victim shaming’ and her not going to the police is realistic, in fact Emmerdale had an opportunity here and didn’t take it.
When the storyline was first announced Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw said: “Emmerdale has never shied away from telling difficult but important stories and with Lydia’s rape we do just that. With five out of six women who are raped not reporting it to the police, we really wanted to raise awareness of this issue and hopefully encourage any women who have been in a similar position to Lydia to speak out.”
But how are they encouraging women to speak out? Lydia has stayed silent, burned her clothes and continued to work for the man who raped her.
As one fan put it: “Tired of soaps handling [sexual assault] this way. I wanted her to go home tell Sam, or hell go straight to Kim. I want soaps to show victims how to handle this so people don’t feel shame or hide but instead go straight to the police.”
They continued: “Soaps have a chance to help empower victims, show them they have options other than to hide what has happened. Instead every time it’s a victim suffering alone. I’m bored of it and it angers me. I’m not victim blaming it’s just been done over and over.
“People learn from what they see and all soaps do is show them they need to feel shame when in fact they do not.
“I want more depictions of them taking back their power.”
Who is Craig in Emmerdale?
It also feels like they haven’t made their minds up on who Craig is. The rape was very obviously non-consensual. Lydia said no.
Yet now Craig is making out like he thinks it was consensual. Does he genuinely think she agreed and he’s done nothing wrong? Or is he gaslighting her into keeping quiet? It’s a very confusing narrative.
It’s like Emmerdale hasn’t decided whether he’s out and out evil or just a bit confused and are hedging their bets until they do.
But if they don’t know where the storyline is going, how are we supposed to?
Why has no one noticed anything is wrong?
The last few weeks every member of the Dingle clan has made a big deal out of what a corner stone Lydia in Emmerdale is. Hell, Mandy doesn’t even have clean knickers without Lydia, apparently.
So why has no one noticed something is very, very wrong?
There’s only so many times people will buy someone saying they just need some sleep before they realise something isn’t right. Lydia went overnight from happy, caring and kind to being snappy and off with everyone.
It’s obvious something is wrong – the woman is terrified. Yet no one – not even Kim – is asking about it. Why?
Emmerdale needs to take control back
The soap needs to take control back of this storyline and make it better.
As one fan put it: “Lydia’s rape story is very worthy of course, but it is getting to be difficult to watch. It is stuck in a rut, it needs to go forward now.”
Emmerdale is right, they do have a brilliant opportunity to ’empower women’ who’ve suffered this awful trauma.
Karen Blick and Ben Addis have proved they have the chops to give this storyline what it needs. And what it needs is to send a clearer message that a woman need never, ever feel ashamed if it happens to her and instil the courage to report the attack.
If Craig has done this to one woman, chances are he’s done it before – or will do it again. Emmerdale has the opportunity to show a victim getting justice and potentially saving other women. We’re urging them to use it.
For more information and support, viewers can visit the Rape Crisis website – www.rapecrisis.org.uk. You can also call their 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222 or chat to them online 247sexualabusesupport.org.uk.
Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2023 – meet them all here!
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an hour episode on Thursdays.
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