Kammy has arrived in Emmerdale, with April’s new friend Dylan still around, and more new characters – including the one played by Bradley Riches – still to come.

While it’s always good to get some fresh blood in a soap, we can’t help feeling there are a lot of established characters in Emmerdale who could do with a bit of attention.

Perhaps it’s time to show them some love before we get all excited about the newbies?

Here’s our round-up of all the current characters that need to be used more. These villagers could definitely do with a storyline or two – and it turns out there are quite a lot of them…

Emmerdale characters that need to be used more

Give Bob something to do! (Credit: ITV)

1. Bob Hope

Bob’s brilliant. He’s the very heart of Emmerdale. Actor Tony Audenshaw can have us laughing one minute at Bob’s antics, then sobbing the next when things go wrong for his alter ego. But  he’s currently a bit lost and lonely at the B&B with just daughter Cathy for company.

We’re desperately hoping Bradley’s mysterious character turns out to be TJ Woods – Bob’s grandson. Just to give him something to do!
We love Pollard and we want to see more of him! (Credit: ITV)

2. Eric Pollard

Oh how we love Eric Pollard. We love him when he’s being all cocky and manipulative, and we love him when he shows us his vulnerable side. He’s Emmerdale’s longest-serving character and we want more of him!

His scenes with Brenda this week were a reminder of how good he can be. We’ve got a little teaser of something on the horizon with Tracy nicking his cash, and frankly we can’t wait.
We’re not NOT hoping for an affair (Credit: ITV)

3. Charity Dingle

Charity is brilliant. Brilliant. How good were her scenes with Ross when they tried to track down Joe Tate? The pair of them have such good chemistry. We’re not saying that the storyline we want to see for Charity is an affair with Ross, but we’re not not saying that either.
We love Macron. No? Ack? Well, whatever we call them, they just work (Credit: ITV)

5. Emmerdale characters Mackenzie Boyd and Aaron Dingle – but only together

Irritating as over-grown toddler Mr Boyd can be, he can be quite funny and engaging in the right context. And that context is doing slightly illegal stuff with Aaron.
Gail is leaving but will Ryan go too?

Emmerdale characters that need to be used more: 6. Ryan Stocks

Remember Ryan? He’s great. He’s especially great with Charity – the relationship the pair of them have is really nice and very believable. But we hardly see him.

And now his partner Gail’s leaving Emmerdale and we’re worried he might go too. Perhaps they’ll both catch up with their long-lost son Oscar, who was flavour of the week very briefly and hasn’t been mentioned since.
Paddy and Mandy tied the knot but we hardly ever see them together (Credit: ITV)

7. Paddy and Mandy Dingle

We’re still not totally on board with Paddy and Mandy being married again. Possibly because we hardly ever see them together. Do they actually even live together? Perhaps they need a storyline together to make us more invested in them as a couple?
No we can’t remember why Bear was dressed like that, but we quite like it (Credit: ITV)

8. Bear Wolf is an Emmerdale character who needs more material

Bear’s great too and we’ve not seen much of him recently either. We loved his relationship with Faith, but now – like Bob – he seems a bit isolated and forgotten. He needs a friend! Or even a girlfriend!
Laurel wonders where all her storylines have gone (Credit: ITV/Composite: EI)

9. Laurel Thomas

We’ve got a love/hate relationship with Laurel. She’s definitely one of the characters that needs to be used more.

When she’s great, she’s really great. But recently her most interesting scenes seem to be taking place off-screen! We heard about her relapse into alcoholism and her making a move on Marlon, but we didn’t see it. Even her acrimonious divorce from Jai seems to be totally civil now. Maybe she needs some romance in her life now?
Amy died but we’ve barely seen Kerry or Matty since (Credit: ITV/Comp Emmerdale Insider)

10 and 11. Emmerdale characters that need to be used more: Kerry Wyatt and Matty Barton

It’s really sad that Amy died. We’re sure her husband Matty and her mum Kerry are devastated. But we don’t know for sure because we’ve hardly seen them since the funeral. Except when Kerry showed up giving coffee to Caleb’s dodgy client who was there to drug him, of course. And we have to say, Kerry looked remarkably chipper on that occasion.

We know soaps get a bad rap for being too gloomy but sometimes characters die and their families should mourn them.