By Matthew Gormley @MatthewPGormley

This week was billed as ‘Super Soap Week’ by ITV, and the channel’s two stable mates, Coronation Street and Emmerdale have surpassed all the expectations of this cheesy tagline. Whilst Coronation Street may have had a couple of shocking twists and turns, Emmerdale sprints into the lead and effortlessly steals the soap crown. From the moment the opening titles rolled on Monday until the very last second on Friday, the six episodes were sensational; expertly written with drama-driven storylines that could give some Hollywood films a run for their money.

Each episode opened with an eerie funeral scene. The identity of the body inside the coffin was a mystery; it was up to us, the viewer, to fathom which of the residents of the village it could possibly be. As the week unfolded, the possibilities seemed endless.

The first four episodes saw the same 24 hours through the eyes of different characters. On Monday, it was Robert and Aaron’s emotional rollercoaster which saw Lachlan kidnapped and Robert planning on proposing to his lover. It was one of the best episodes of Emmerdale I have ever seen. Huge congratulations must go out to actors Danny Miller and Ryan Hawley, a formidable partnership who have proved themselves more than capable of delivering a two-hander. Danny has been one of the soap’s leading lights since he first joined the cast back in 2008. Ryan took over the role of Robert Sugden upon the character’s return to the Dales in October 2014 and has transformed Robert into one of soapland’s most likeable villains. His performance in Monday night’s episode during scenes in which Robert finally came to terms with being bisexual, and confessed that the reason he had hidden his true sexual identity for so long was down to his Dad’s attitude towards a liaison with a fellow farm worker at the age of 15, made for heartbreaking viewing and proved Hawley’s superb acting capabilities.

Tuesday night focused on the rather boring love triangle between Rhona, Paddy and Pierce. When Paddy and Marlon, Yorkshire’s answer to Batman and Robin, took little Leo camping on the edge of the woods, Rhona made her excuses to her current flame Pierce so she could go and spent time with two of her exes. This was the weakest episode by a long stretch. I think the intention was to provide some light relief, but the scenes involving Paddy and Marlon running scared from an unidentified presence in the woods were pathetic and unnecessary. The majority of the episode served as nothing more than a vehicle to get everybody in one place and onto the Hotton bypass by the end of the episode.

On Wednesday night, the focus shifted to bed-ridden James, who was being kept prisoner in his new home by his psycho wife-to-be Emma. Having failed to knock him out with the heavy dose of morphine that she was slipping into his food, she upped the anté and was determined to finish him off once and for all. Although the acting talent of Bill Ward failed to live up to the performances observed at the beginning of the week, you couldn’t help but feel his pain as he dragged his broken leg around the house behind him, frantically searching for a way out.

Thursday night began with the tragic story of Ashley, who is losing large chunks of his memory on a daily basis thanks to his worsening dementia. On the day of his baby daughter Dottie’s christening, the perplexed vicar failed to realise what was really going on until it was all over and done with. When he woke up from a nap fearing he’d missed one of the most important days in his baby’s life, he jumped in the car and headed for the church. Once he was also on the motorway, it conveniently allowed all four tales to intertwine.

As the four parallel stories began to overlap, my Sherlock Holmes instinct kicked in and I began to piece together several unexplained bits and bobs from across the week. Suddenly, everything made sense. The four expertly written episodes were about to come to a head in spectacular fashion. The result was a horrifying pile up, induced by James being pushed off the bridge above the bypass by a deranged Emma. His head smashed straight through Ashley’s windscreen, causing Ashley to lose control of his vehicle and back flip across the three-lane stretch, where he was soon to be joined by Pierce, Paddy and Rhona and Aaron and Robert, whose derailed vehicle ended up flying into the river, with Lachlan still trapped in the boot. If you over think the circumstances, it may seem just a little far-fetched and far too convenient that half of the village residents should be on the same stretch of road, all heading for different places, at exactly the same time, but these episodes were so well put together that even this couldn’t take the edge off.

With several lives left hanging by a thread, it was a guessing game of who exactly was going to perish in the freak accident. All the fingers appeared to point the way that nobody would have predicted, in the direction of poor Aaron. As Friday’s episode ended with the very funeral that we’d seen small glimpses off across the week, this time, the congregation were revealed for first time. As the camera panned across Chas and Robert, stood under umbrellas in the pouring rain, making for a nice bit of pathetic fallacy, I feared the worst. I think I was even prepared to cry. But then we saw somebody clasp the hand of Robert, complete with a ring on their finger. Aaron had survived. I surprised myself with the genuine gush of relief that engulfed me. My second bet was Rhona. She was the only crash victim whom we hadn’t seen in hospital on Friday night. She was also present at the graveside.

Just before the credits rolled on the final episode of this unbeatable week, we saw the Order of Service plunge into a muddy puddle; James Barton was the unlucky one. Bride-to-be Emma had managed the ultimate revenge for her boyfriend’s dalliance with Moria. Will she get her comeuppance? I’m interested to see whether Ashley will manage to remember who he saw on the bridge after James’ fall, or will Emma get away with her unforgiveable actions once again? Whatever the outcome, there are no doubt several weeks of heartache ahead in the Dales.

Over the last few years, Emmerdale has well and truly worked its socks off to prove it no longer deserves to be the underdog in soap world. This week has firmly cemented Emmerdale’s place as the King of the soap operas. I can’t wait for the much-deserved awards to start flooding in.

Emmerdale: No Return - Gripping, unpredictable and truly phenomenal.