Guess who’s back, back again? Emmerdale’s long-lost, gravel-voiced enforcer Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) is back after falling off a cliff, being bashed

in the head with a torch and…cremated? Tell a friend. Five years after his supposed death at the hands of rapist, Pierce Harris (Jonathan Wrather),

the former soldier and professional right-hand man, first to a vengeful Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) and, above all, to ‘wife’, Kim Tate (Claire King)

in her gangster era, Graham has returned. The timing of it all seems incredibly suspect, though. Walk with me, people…

Emmerdale fans clock huge clue that Graham has already killed a major character

See, prior to his final showdown with Pierce, Graham had fallen in love with Pierce’s ex-wife (and victim), Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry), who has recently found herself in quite a sticky situation.

Y’know, if ‘sticky situation’ is a strong enough term to describe being extorted by an organised crime syndicate that’s using your stepdaughter as both a prostitute and a drugs mule while also running a modern slavery racket. Perhaps not…

Rhona and husband Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) have found themselves in utter hell since April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) revealed just how deeply she was trapped within Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) dark web, and, with nowhere else to turn and nobody to help them, began handing over cash payments to Celia’s son-cum-lieutenant, Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) in order to keep April safe.

Consider the direct debit cancelled, though, as, after stabbing his mum to death, Ray himself has been offed, his body being dragged across the floor by an unseen person, and stuffed in a transit van, driven by Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson), as revealed in Corriedale.

Who put him there, though?

While quite a few village residents were acting rather shady in the aftermath (pun not intended, despite how this article opened), viewers think they’ve clocked Rhona’s tea, especially her ‘have you done it’ mystery phone call, and think that she perhaps called in a little back up from a former flame; someone who’d be incredibly capable of dealing with the former final boss of the Dales.

Did Graham kill Ray?

A former soldier, Graham is incredibly well-versed in combat, and conversations between him and Kim, particularly involving a supposedly monstrous hit-man named Vincent, insinuated that he had experience with seriously dangerous people.

Transporting a bound and gagged Jodie (Olivia Frances-Brown) also suggested that Graham hasn’t sought out a more peaceful post-death existence.

No, he’s not sipping margaritas on a beach with his toes in the sand; he’s shifting terrified women around in vans.

On a Reddit thread, titled simply: ‘What happened to Ray?’, one poster said: ‘I’m thinking it was Graham who killed him. Rhona looked very suspicious on that phone call. It looks like Graham is some sort of paid mercenary now.’

Who killed Ray?

• Marlon
• Rhona
• April
• Dylan
• Laurel
• Graham
• Moira
• Cain
• Ross

While a second commenter posited that Rhona and Marlon would be unable to pay a mercenary, due to Ray and Celia extorting them for all of their money, another fan replied with: ‘Don’t forget that Rhona and Graham were very close though. Graham would definitely help her out even for ‘free’. Graham also had a soft spot for Leo as he said Leo reminds him of his own brother.’

Another user posted: ‘Considering Graham & Rhona were once a thing, and he’s now returned, could he have been responsible for what happened to Ray? He has motive. He could’ve heard all about Ray and attacked him off-screen.’

While Graham has always dabbled in the distasteful, he loves hard, an is fiercely loyal to those who manage to penetrate his incredibly icy exterior. Rhona managed just that, and if she were to ask for help, we’re certain Graham wouldn’t think twice.

That would mean, however, that she was in the know about his fake death.

With Emmerdale bosses promising us a full explanation of how Graham pulled off a fake demise and disappearing act, will they also reveal that Rhona knew all along? Did Graham stop off at his old haunt to sort Ray out before taking Jodie to…wherever he was trying to take her?

Celia and Ray’s takeover of Emmerdale was always going to be a tough act to follow, but we’re not worried. The second act is already looking like it’ll be one hell of a ride!