Emmerdale spoilers: Declan Macey is alive! Shock twist shown in tonight's episode

As Charity (Emma Atkins) raised a glass to her husband and vowed not to forget him, we cut to a finger hitting record on a video camera before the sight of a dishevelled Declan came into view.

After holding up a copy of today’s Hotton Courier, Declan said the chilling words:

“It’s the eighth of October 2014. My name is Declan Macey and I’m very much not dead. But my wife Charity is going to wish I was.”

As for what Declan has in mind, a show insider tonight told RadioTimes.com: “Declan's clearly alive and evidently still out to wreak revenge and make Charity suffer but as to how and when...”

Next week’s episodes of the ITV soap will see Charity attacked and held captive in a shipping container after being ostracised by seemingly all the village.

“She’s terrified that it’s Declan,” says actress Emma Atkins. “Thanks to what she went through at the cottage, she knows that he’s dead set on killing her. So she’s now thinking, ‘OK, this is it – game over. I’m going to die.’ She’s being completely terrorised.”

Emmerdale continues tomorrow at 6.45pm on ITV