Ella Forster (Paula Lane) made a winning impression the

first time we saw her in Emmerdale. The feisty character

was seen sticking up for Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) against

an obnoxious man – Ella’s boss at the time – who was belittling Mandy.

When she arrived in the village she continued to win admirers

among the locals, including of course Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson).

His attraction to the feisty and fun Ella soon developed into a relationship – one that Liam is currently participating in more by the force of Ella’s willpower than his own inclination, as he was wavering about getting together with her because he also had feelings for Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter).

Ella is a woman with hidden depths, it seems, and several hints over recent weeks have got fans speculating about her having a shady past.

There’s even a theory that she could have a connection to Emmerdale’s very own deranged serial killer Meena Jutla – currently in prison for her multiple crimes – after Ella dropped a comment about a former friend who was a nurse.

Meena’s sister is, lest we forget, Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker), who still lives in the village and is, in fact, Ella’s boss. The two have already had a run-in after Manpreet became concerned that Ella and Liam’s attraction to each other could end up causing all sorts of problems in the workplace and tried to nip it in the bud.

But speaking of inappropriate relationships, Manpreet has recently started to develop a bit of a crush on her personal trainer, Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle). Billy hasn’t noticed this yet, but he’s about to – leaving Manpreet with a bit of a problem after she perhaps foolishly decides to confide in Ella.