If there’s one thing that comes up a lot in soaps, it’s family secrets and parents in Emmerdale have loads of them!

Emmerdale loves a ‘who’s the daddy’ storyline, not to mention the occasional reveal of a long-lost sibling/mum/dad/child.
Steph was horrified to find out the truth (Credit: ITV)

Shocking family secrets about parents in Emmerdale

On screen currently poor Steph has uncovered what has to be the grimmest and most shocking family secret Emmerdale has ever seen – that her grandfather Anthony was also her dad. Meaning her mum Ruby is also her sister.

It’s not an easy watch.

Meanwhile, in the Classic Emmerdale episodes currently airing on ITV3, Edna Birch has just told her son Peter the truth about his parentage. It turns out she’s not his real mum – her sister Lily is.

And that got us thinking. There are a LOT of Emmerdale residents who found out a shock about their parents.

Here’s our round-up of everyone who got some unexpected news about their mums and dads.
 Mr Sharma got a surprise about his dad (Credit: ITV/ Composite EI!)

Jai Sharma

Jai was heartbroken when he discovered sweet-natured Rishi wasn’t his real dad, but instead his evil uncle Amit was. Though, we have to say mean-spirited, manipulative Jai is a proper chip off the old Amit block!

The fallout from the revelation meant Jai was estranged from Rishi when he was killed… by Amit. Ouch!

Steph Miligan

Steph’s trying to come to terms with her life-changing news though currently she’s dealing with it by planning plastic surgery to disguise any family resemblance. We’re actually not sure this huge news is ever going to be something she gets over, but fair play to her for trying – though perhaps counselling would be the way to go, rather than going under the knife…
Now Ryan’s settled in Emmerdale now (Credit: ITV)

Ryan Stocks

Ryan was brought up by kind midwife Irene Stocks, who adopted him as a baby. He’d been abandoned in the hospital by his teenage mum, Charity Dingle, who thought he’d died. But Ryan pulled through and grew up not knowing his biological mum.

He and Charity eventually reconnected in 2018 and they’ve now got a good relationship.
Caleb is Frank’s secret son (Credit: ITV)

More family secrets: Caleb Miligan

Caleb grew up in care, away from his biological parents. But at some point he found out his mum was Faith Dingle, and his dad was Frank Tate – the result of a fling between the pair.

Caleb never knew either of his parents, but somehow he blames Frank’s former wife Kim – who Frank didn’t meet until about two decades after Caleb was born – for his rotten upbringing.

Cain Dingle

Cain Dingle shares mum Faith with his half-brother Caleb, but he grew up thinking his dad was abusive Shadrach.

As it turns out, along with having a fling with Frank Tate in the 1970s, Faith also had a liaison with her brother-in-law, Zak. And it was Zak who turned out to be Cain’s biological dad.
Nate thought Cain had rejected him but the truth was he didn’t know he existed (Credit: ITV/Composite: EI)

Nate Robinson

But that wasn’t the only shock Cain had in store. Several years after finding out the truth about his paternity he also discovered he had a long-lost son – Nate Robinson.

Cain had a relationship with Nate’s mum, Cara, back in the 1990s. She got pregnant but Faith was worried about Shadrach’s racist views and encouraged Cara to leave.

Cain never knew he was a dad – until Nate showed up in Emmerdale and seduced Moira.
Vet Paddy thought Kenneth was his dad, but it was Bear (Credit: ITV)

Paddy Kirk

Paddy was surprised when his ex-wife Mandy came back into his life after years away. And he was even more surprised when Mandy presented him with a letter from his mum Barbara to wrestler Bear Wolf.

The letter revealed that Bear was in fact Paddy’s biological father and not Kenneth – the man he thought was his dad. Paddy and Bear are now  good friends.