Emmerdale spoilers: Chas to be diagnosed with PTSD after stabbing Diane
The news will cause tensions between Doug and the Dingles.
By Daniel Kilkelly, Digital Spy
24 November 2015
Emmerdale will delve deeper into Chas Dingle's problems next week as she is diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Chas has been struggling badly ever since she witnessed Robert Sugden being shot in the village at the end of September.
The pub landlady has even convinced herself that she is being stalked following a series of strange events in her home, unaware that she has been committing the acts herself while sleepwalking.
The tense storyline comes to a head this fortnight as Chas becomes so terrified at The Woolpack that she accidentally stabs her friend Diane Sugden (Elizabeth Estensen).
In the aftermath, Chas flees from the pub in terror and ends up disorientated in the woods - seeing strange visions of Robert as well as hearing noises of gunshots and voices.
The experience is so frightening for Chas that she trips and falls unconscious, but the ordeal leads to her finally getting the help she needs when a doctor later diagnoses her with PTSD.
Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas, revealed: "Chas doubts the diagnosis initially - I think many people do. It's mentioned to her by Aaron after all the wood stuff happens. He has an inkling that this is what she might be suffering from.
"Many people think it's only soldiers who might get PTSD, but it can happen to anybody. It's triggered by a traumatic event - like the diagnosis of an illness, the witnessing of a car crash, or being in a crash.
"It can have so many different triggers and it doesn't necessarily happen straight away. It's taken a while - and Chas has had quite a lot of bad things happen to her!"
Pargeter explained that Chas's issues date back to her previous ordeal with serial killer Cameron Murray, who was killed after a horrifying siege at the pub in 2013.
"I think it's nice for the show to say that these things don't always just go away, and that the repercussions can happen a couple of years after the event," she said.
"We've worked really closely with Mind, who have been quite happy for it to be a female character that isn't a soldier. We've been working with them on the symptoms and how it can manifest, so hopefully we have done it justice.
"Not every case is the same. There are loads of different triggers and it can manifest itself in different ways. The sleepwalking was quite interesting to discover, as it does cause sleeplessness. We then tied it in with the Emma stuff, so it's been nice to see it weaving its way through."
Chas's diagnosis will initially cause fireworks in the village, as Doug Potts wonders whether it's all a Dingle con to get her off the hook for stabbing Diane. Aaron, Cain and Zak all angrily jump to Chas's defence, and Doug is forced to sheepishly back down when the reality of the situation becomes clear.
On Chas being chosen for the plot, Pargeter joked: "I am extremely surprised that the whole village hasn't been diagnosed with it at some point. But that's what I mean - we have so many things happening in this village, so it's nice to see this.
"We had a serial killer who killed three people before getting his comeuppance - finally we are doing something about it. We're finally showing the audience that you can't go through all this stuff without having some consequence."
Source:
http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/emme...tabbing-diane/