Emmerdale's Ryan Hawley had one-word reaction to bombshell Robert and Kev twist

Emmerdale star Ryan Hawley has hinted at a huge twist involving Robert Sugden and newcomer Kev Townsend (played by Chris Coghill) in an upcoming standalone episode. The special instalment will take viewers behind bars, revisiting Robert's time in prison. Fans will recall he was sent down for 14 years back in 2019 for the murder of Lee Posner (Kris Mochrie), the man who raped his sister Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins).

Robert made his long-awaited return to the village in May after serving six years of his sentence. But what really happened to him behind bars? The upcoming episode will expose the harrowing experiences Robert endured to survive and explore the backstory of how he met his husband, Kev. Viewers will be taken back to 2021, two years into Robert's sentence, exploring key moments from his time in prison leading up to the day of Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) and John Sugden's (Oliver Farnworth) wedding.

Discussing his standalone episode, Ryan told Express Online: "It's lovely to have the whole episode to get to tell the story - this backstory that we've got to flesh out.

"There's one particularly very nice little twist that neither of us knew about until we read the script. I remember reading it and thinking 'woah' because no one had told me that that was something that had happened. It is massively pivotal in their relationship."

"As far as we know, no one finds out about it so there's some interesting things that they're sewing in this episode and for things potentially leading forward."

Ryan added: "It was a great opportunity for me and Chris to work quite a lot together intensively and a huge privilege as well when you have that story offered to you. Hopefully people will enjoy it and hopefully it will be a good episode."

Chris Coghill admitted that filming the episode was "intense," but promised that viewers will finally gain a deeper understanding of Kev and Robert's relationship and the reasons behind the way they act towards each other.

The soap star continued: "It explains a lot about my psyche towards what I expect from him. There's a thing that leads into that flashback episode which explains a lot about how our relationship starts in the first place. It was worth doing."

Ryan also revealed that the episode features a "particular thematic convention", one that Emmerdale fans might recognise from the special hour-long 'rewind' episode in 2015, which revealed Ross Barton (Mike Parr) as the person who shot Robert.

Teasing what lies ahead for Robert, Kev, and Aaron, Ryan declared: "I think it's leading to a climax."

Fans can expect plenty of drama as Chris added: "It is leading up to something very dramatic but we can't say what it is."