Emmerdale star Rebecca Bakes has spoken about Angelica King’s upcoming return to the show.

The young cast member will reprise her role as Angelica later this year, when the ITV soap revisits Heath Hope’s tragic death storyline.

Back in March, Angelica was sentenced to eight months in a Secure Children’s Home after confessing to her involvement in causing Heath’s demise.

Angelica was driving when Heath lost his life in a joyride on New Year’s Eve. She initially covered up her guilt, letting Heath’s twin sister Cathy wrongly get the blame.

heath hope, cathy hope, emmerdale

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The emotional storyline saw the departure of Sebastian Dowling, who’d played Heath since he was a newborn baby.

Speaking to Digital Spy on the red carpet at the Radio Times Soap Awards on Saturday evening (July 13), Rebecca hinted at when fans can expect to see Angelica again.

She said: “It should be at the end of September, so in a few months maybe! I don’t really know because we haven’t started filming anything yet.”

Reflecting on the big New Year plot, Rebecca continued: “Before we even started filming it, we were told that the driver would be me and they kept us updated. It was really exciting because I’d never previously done anything as big.

“It was also sad because I’d known Sebastian for years. We didn’t really film much, but when we were little we filmed together quite a lot. I’ve missed him when we’re filming.”

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Recent mentions of Angelica on screen have hinted that she hasn’t been coping well at the Secure Children’s Home. She initially faced bullying from the other youngsters, but a subsequent episode indicated that Angelica was the one who was starting to cause trouble.

In a drunken moment with his nephew Tom recently, Angelica’s dad Jimmy lamented the fact that she’s “not my little Angel anymore”.

Asked whether we could see a change in Angelica this autumn, Rebecca teased: “I don’t know, it could go in the direction of her being a rebel or going a bit downhill but I don’t really know yet!”

The Radio Times Soap Awards took place at the Midland Hotel in Manchester on Saturday evening. Emmerdale took home two prizes on the night, with Lisa Riley (Mandy Dingle) winning Best Comedy Performance and Chris Chittell (Eric Pollard) receiving the Special Recognition gong.