Rhona’s marriage is dealt what appears to be a fatal blow in next week’s episodes after husband Paddy (Dominic Brunt) catches her with more pills.

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“I don’t think she intends to take them,” insists Zoe Henry, who plays Rhona. “They’re a security blanket. However, I wouldn’t trust Rhona where pills are concerned. Even if she took just one, she’d soon end up taking the whole packet. I don’t think she can ever be trusted again – she’s a true addict.”

For Paddy it seems that enough is enough: following a showdown, he moves out of the marital home and in with Chas. So what effect does all this have on Rhona?

“She realises how much is at stake and what she could lose, if she hasn’t lost it already that is. She’s risking her son, her marriage, her dignity and her friendships. She’s been taking everything too lightly and the only way she can get things back on track is if she gets properly clean. She knows when Paddy refuses to come back home that something serious has got to change.”

In the episode set to air on Tuesday 24 September, Rhona will reach the momentous decision to book herself into rehab in a bid to finally kick her addiction to painkillers. So how is she feeling about the prospect?

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"She’s terrified,” says Henry. “It’s hard for her to leave her son behind, even though he’s in safe hands with Laurel, Marlon and Paddy. And she’s sacred of it not working and of her marriage falling apart while she’s in there, if it hasn’t already. She’s like a little girl lost who’s trying the one last thing that she thinks will help her.”

So is this really the end for Paddy and Rhona? “I hope not because I love playing opposite Dominic and I think those characters work really together. But the one person that Rhona should have confided in during all of this was her husband and she didn’t.

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“When you rock the foundations that much in any relationship, it’s hard to come back. If you lose trust, then what have you got left? I think Rhona would like to save the marriage but I’m just not sure Paddy does. It’s such a shame because the viewers I’ve spoken to are desperate for Rhona and Paddy to stay together.”

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