Emmerdale’s Tina Dingle made her shock return to the Dales this week – but fans are convinced she has a secret child who is very familiar to viewers

Emmerdale Tina Dingle’s secret child has been ‘exposed’ – and he’s already appeared on TV screens.

Tina first appeared on Emmerdale in 1994 but left two years later, in 1996. The character was originally portrayed by Jacqueline Pirie, but now actress Samantha Power has taken over the role.

This week, Tina made her shock return to the village to attend the funeral of her dad Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell). Zak sadly died off-screen and was brought back from Scotland to the Emmerdale village, in a bid for the clan to say their farewells to the head of the family.

However, during the funeral, the Dingles were taken aback when a woman unexpectedly showed up – and it was clear she was a family member. The truth soon unfolded as Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) identified the woman as Tina Dingle.

There were soon fireworks for the Dingles, as Tina started insulting the family, overshadowing Zak’s send-off. She also shamelessly tried to claim she had dibs on the family’s home.

It was then revealed that Tina was actually on tag – and a police officer showed up to cart her off for breaching her probation. However, fans are now certain that Tina is hiding something huge: that she has a child.

What’s more, viewers have ‘worked out’ who it could be – and he’s a familiar face to viewers. On an Emmerdale Facebook fan page, one person said: “Just think both Cain’s mum faith and his half-sister Tina have both slept with frank tate.”

Predicting she has a child, someone else replied: “Watch there be another Frank jnr come back with Tina.” Other fans soon shared their theories on who her child could be. A third wrote: “Defo that Josh, both nasty!“

Another mused: “That would be good. Would explain why he was so horrible to Sam.” A fifth said: “Probably! She seems to be hiding something.”

Teasing what viewers can expect, Samantha said of Tina: “Well, she has no filters, and she will literally do anything to make sure she gets her way, including her claim to the house. She is not one to be trusted! I loved it!”

She added: “She is feisty, bolshy, selfish, and she always seems to have an agenda and won’t stop at anything to get what she wants!”

Talking about memorable moments on set, Samantha shared: “There was one specific scene with Lisa where I was face down in a pool of mud. That was extremely memorable, and I loved every second of it. There was also a scene which involved an explosion, which was so impressive.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 and ITVX at 7.30pm