Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has confirmed that another familiar face will be back in the Dales in the near future.

Tuesday night's episode saw the shock return of Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) to the soap as he was revealed to be the mystery man holding Cain (Jeff Hordley) captive.

Now Shaw has said that Aaron is just the first former character coming back as part of a series of big storylines playing out over the festive period.

"Heading into the new year, we're going to be introducing more exciting new characters – they'll all be revealed nearer the time," she told reporters.

"We'll be seeing a well-known face returning. We've got tragedy striking one family in the new year.

"We've got one or two of our villagers getting into very serious trouble, at least one of which may end up with them being sent to prison, but we'll see!"

On Miller's return, she explained: "We've been working really hard to keep it a secret from our audience. We've been calling [Danny] a different name, we've had him driving to work a different way, parking in a secret place. We've been hiding him all over the place and hoping no-one finds him.

"What you'll see when Aaron comes back is that slightly darker, different Aaron. Last time we saw him in the show, he came back briefly in October when, sadly, his sister Liv died, and what we'll see is just how much that has affected Aaron."

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be explosive, and given the anger and bitterness that we see coming out of Aaron, I think we'll see that it might damage some other relationships irreparably, maybe," she added.

"The anger and darkness will definitely come out in some quite shocking ways, and it's definitely going to put some big cracks in that Dingle family."

Emmerdale continues weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.