Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale has released further details of the soap's big new storyline focusing on the disappearance of April Windsor.
The ITV soap's Christmas Day episode featured a nasty surprise for Marlon Dingle as he discovered that his teenage daughter had gone missing.
April ran away from home following a difficult few weeks, which had left her feeling alienated from her family.
At the start of the month, April was kidnapped by Ross Barton's enemy Jade. Ross later told April the full devastating story behind the death of her mum Donna in 2014.
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Struggling to process the revelations, April started to rebel against her family and Marlon inadvertently made matters worse by encouraging Ross to cut all contact with her.
Emmerdale has now confirmed that future episodes will see Marlon uncover the various reasons why his troubled daughter chose to go missing.
As new revelations come to light, Marlon realises that April was leading a life that he was completely unaware of.
Marlon and his wife Rhona Goskirk receive plenty of support from the villagers, as the community clings to the hope that April will be found alive.
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Tragically, as the story progresses, Marlon and Rhona start to face the very real possibility that they may never see April again.
Emmerdale has been working on this storyline with help from the Missing People charity.
Show producer Laura Shaw commented: "Marlon has recently been struggling with his relationship with April but never imagined he would be in such a heartbreaking situation this Christmas.
"In the coming weeks, as the search for April intensifies, we explore the emotional turmoil a family faces when a young person goes missing. We are so grateful to the charity Missing People for their invaluable help and support with this storyline."
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Kate Graham, Head of Communications at Missing People, added: "It has been an amazing experience to work with Emmerdale on this important storyline. The researchers were clear from the start that they wanted to ground the storyline in reality and in no way glamorise it.
"Everyone at Emmerdale, including the actors, have impressed us with their understanding of a very difficult subject matter, meeting with our team of experts, asking very relevant questions and really immersing themselves in the experience of both being missing and homeless, and also being the parents of a missing teenager.
"We hope that as viewers watch this story unfold, they are able to gain some understanding of what families with a missing loved one go through and why our charity exists to support those families, as well as anyone thinking of being missing, or anyone already away from home."
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
