Soap spoilers follow.
It's been another eventful week for soap casting news, with EastEnders expanding the Knight family and Hollyoaks delivering the most left-field character announcement of the year so far.
Meanwhile, as Emmerdale's resident villain Tom King gets worse by the episode, Neighbours' ongoing antagonist Chelsea Murphy is nearing the end of her reign of terror.
With such a busy week of headlines, though, have you missed any gossip? Don't worry, as here's our weekly round-up of the biggest soap news that came our way over the past few days.
Emmerdale's Tom story escalates in special episode
Although first announced a few weeks ago, Emmerdale's special "dinner party" episode focusing on Tom, Belle, Marlon and Rhona has dominated soap headlines this week as the official spoilers and pictures have been released.
At the start of the week, Emmerdale confirmed the unusual format for the couples' special episode, which sees Tom and Belle invite guests into their home for an ill-fated meal.
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Next Tuesday's visit to the Dales (May 7) will initially show the night from Marlon and Rhona's perspective, before rewinding half-way through to explore the same evening from Tom and Belle's point of view.
The non-linear format helps to illustrate how what we see of people's lives in public can wildly differ from the reality of what's going on behind closed doors.
Show bosses have warned that the episode culminates in terrifying scenes for Belle, as Tom spitefully blames her for the dinner party going wrong and steps up his disturbing abuse.
In recent days, we've provided full coverage of the episode with quotes from James Chase (Tom), Eden Taylor-Draper (Belle), Mark Charnock (Marlon) and Zoe Henry (Rhona).
EastEnders' Yolande and Patrick in special episode
By coincidence rather than design, EastEnders announced plans for its own special episode this week which will air at exactly the same day and time as Emmerdale's unique edition.
A few years ago, this would have sparked dramatic headlines over "soap wars" and "schedule clashes", but times have changed and EastEnders' 6am early iPlayer releases mean that the linear schedule no longer seems as relevant.
EastEnders revealed that Tuesday's episode will be a special two-hander episode focusing solely on Yolande and Patrick Trueman.
There'll be emotional scenes for fan favourites Angela Wynter and Rudolph Walker as Yolande confides in Patrick about being sexually assaulted by Pastor Clayton last month.
EastEnders' executive producer Chris Clenshaw said this week: "When you have a story that deserves time and space to explore, and you have talent like Angela Wynter and Rudoph Walker, it felt only right to produce an EastEnders two-hander episode.
"This conversation is the most difficult that Yolande and Patrick will ever have, and an episode dedicated to them gives us a chance to tell this story truthfully and authentically. I'm in awe of the performances Angela and Rudolph have given and they've handled such a challenging and sensitive subject matter."
Angela Wynter also spoke about the scenes, rightfully pointing out that "we needed a whole episode to unravel the knot and unpick what happened to Yolande and get Patrick's response".
EastEnders' new character
EastEnders' second big announcement of the week was the news that George Knight's estranged son Junior will be heading to Walford this month.
Junior arrives as George's behaviour continues to spiral following the sudden death of Gloria.
As is standard for pretty much every soap newcomer these days, fans can expect a few secrets to be revealed. EastEnders has promised to explore the reason for George and Junior's estrangement, the circumstances which spark their sudden reunion and exactly what the "enigmatic" Junior is keeping to himself when he turns up in Walford.
Micah Balfour, who has landed the role of Junior, has previously appeared in Emmerdale, Doctor Who, Death in Paradise and The Bill.
Hollyoaks brings back Jeremy Sheffield
Former Hollyoaks boss Bryan Kirkwood once argued that the show's most successful periods were driven by a mix of issue-based plots, relatable coming-of-age tales and soapy shocks that "could only happen in Hollyoaks".
The latest announcement from the Channel 4 soap firmly falls into the latter category, with news that former cast member Jeremy Sheffield has returned to the show as the identical twin of his old/dead character Patrick Blake.
Patrick's twin Jez is joining the regular cast alongside mum Martha, who's played by former Coronation Street, Benidorm and Loose Women star Sherrie Hewson.
Jez's arrival has been a long time coming. For years, Digital Spy has heard whispers that some writers and producers at Hollyoaks were keen to bring back Jeremy in an entirely new role. The possibility often came up in conversations on set, but the team had never settled on a firm idea... until now.
As seen in Digital Spy's obsessive coverage of the Fake Dee saga in Neighbours a few years ago, we're suckers for an identical twin storyline so we've very excited to see how this one plays out.
Neighbours' Chelsea finally caught
Neighbours airs some must-see episodes next week as Chelsea Murphy's storyline finally comes to a head in dramatic scenes.
When Krista finally remembers her knowledge of Chelsea's role in the tragic Lassiters sauna incident, the stage is set for a showdown at Chelsea and Paul's lavish engagement party.
Soaps need ongoing villains to keep things interesting, so although we know Chelsea flees from Erinsborough once the truth is out, we can't help wondering whether we've really seen the last of her.
Who is Casualty's whistleblower?
We love a good soap mystery and Casualty is currently keeping fans guessing over the identity of a mysterious whistleblower who has secretly helped with a documentary exposé into life at Holby Hospital.
With speculation growing, this week we enjoyed catching up with the brilliant Will Beck – who plays Dylan Keogh – to discuss the ongoing mystery.
Will told us: "The kind of speculation that I've heard about this so far has been spread very evenly across the potential candidates.
"I can say that I was surprised [by the outcome]. Of course, there will be people who knew, but I was surprised.
"It has been nice that it was kept a secret internally. It will be a surprise to everybody. And I am not ruling myself out by the way!"
You can read our full in-depth chat with Will here.
Coronation Street's deep fake storyline
Coronation Street's Abi Webster has had a long break from big storylines since the dramas surrounding Imran Habeeb and baby Alfie a couple of years ago.
The popular character now looks set to return to the spotlight with a new storyline focusing on deep fakes, which were previously touched on in Maria Connor's trolling plot a couple of years ago.
According to tabloid reports, Abi's face will be superimposed onto pornographic material which is sent to Tyrone Dobbs, turning her life upside-down.
The scenes are expected to air later this month.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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