Emmerdale aired a special episode for April Windsor tonight (Tuesday, February 4). It showed us a glimpse of her life on the streets.
The whole half an hour episode shared exactly what had happened to April since she went missing on Christmas Day last year.
And, the whole 30 minute instalment had us feeling all sorts of emotions. We were left with our mouths open the whole way through.
April pregnant and living on the streets in Emmerdale
Tonight’s episode showed the last month or so of April’s life on the streets, condensed into half an hour.
April was initially seen getting into a stranger’s car. She was then dropped off at a hotel after her friends failed to offer her a place to stay.
Spending the night at the hotel, April then started living on the streets. She befriended a homeless lad who then proceeded to try to take her money (but he then realised that she didn’t have any and decided to give her some shelter instead.)
During her time on the streets, April revealed that she was pregnant. She struggled to find the food and money needed to keep both herself and her unborn baby alive.
At one point, April’s friend Bex was helping her ask for food and tried to protect her when someone mugged her. As she tried to run after the thief, Bex got stabbed. Yes, she was the sadly the girl who Marlon had identified in A&E as not being April.
In another ordeal, the police turned up at the place April was staying at. They then arrested her other friend (the lad who had originally allowed her to stay there.)
Realising that all of her friends had gone, she then took ended up giving birth to a stillborn baby in a toilet cubicle. She then headed off to sleeping on a park bench – alone.
Opinion: April special episode was a heartbreaking masterpiece
It might’ve only been 30 minutes but the episode sure packed in a lot of drama during this time. We finally got given the answers (and were provided with even more questions) as to what happened to April after a month of waiting and it didn’t disappoint.
The whole month time frame being condensed into one episode was really well done. It helped us get up-to-date with April’s story really quickly, in a clever way.
Seeing April struggle and face the dangers of living on the streets at such a young age was extremely difficult to watch. But, it was definitely a story that needed to be told. Seeing a fifteen year old April not only homeless but also pregnant, struggling for food and a place of safety to live broke our hearts.
We’ve seen April grow up on our screens for years now. And, many of us still view her as that cute little child that entered the village with mum Donna. Well, this episode has been the perfect transition from Amelia Flanagan to go from child to adult acting, which can be a huge challenge for some. Yet, for actress Amelia, she proved that she’s more than capable of serious, adult storylines. An absolute talent.
The added details made all the difference
Not only did we get to view April’s story, we were also given a face, name and story to Bex – the girl we learnt had died from the stabbing. The girl Marlon and Rhona were originally led to believe was April. This added detail to the episode broke us even more, reminding us that whilst Emmerdale may be set in a fictional world, the stories told are very real and are happening to such young, vulnerable people.
Now, with April found after such a stomach-churning experience for us viewers, we dread to imagine the pain April and Marlon and their loved ones will go through as we find out just what happened to the teenager and her baby.
