Emmerdale reveals Mackenzie Boyd's exit storyline in early ITVX release as Lawrence Robb leaves for Strictly Come Dancing stint

Mackenzie Boyd will be leaving Emmerdale village - but only to facilitate actor Lawrence Robb's stint on Strictly Come Dancing.

Robb, who has appeared in the ITV soap since 2020, was revealed to have joined this year’s line-up of the hit dancing show in August and has been performing alongside Jowita Przystał for the last three weeks.

Following the announcement, Danny Miller - who plays Aaron Dingle on the soap - took to Instagram to congratulate his co-star, and also confirmed that he'd be taking a break until 2027.

Emma Atkins, who plays his on-screen wife Charity Dingle, also confirmed that a quick exit story was filmed after he got news of the Strictly gig.

Speaking in a statement about his casting on Strictly, Lawrence previously said he feels "overwhelmed" as well as "nervous, trepidatious, but excited is the overriding emotion".

He added: "I've never done anything like this before, and from the very minimal dancing that I've done in the past, I know that it's going to be an uphill battle from the get-go. I think once things kick off, I'll probably understand what I've got myself into!"

In today's episode, amid chaos at Emmerdale Farm, Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) explained to farmhand Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) that he'd signed colleague Mack up for a course in Germany. He'd received some form of grant that would facilitate the trip.

Meanwhile, in the village, Charity had an awkward run-in with granddaughter Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill). The two's relationship may be forever fractured due to a twisted secret that was kept under wraps for best part of a year.

While trying to act as surrogate for Sarah, Charity fell pregnant herself - though allowed her granddaughter to believe that the baby, Leyla, was her own.

Following the encounter, Charity was glad to have Mack to lean on. However, he had some bad news for her - and soon explained about the course.

She was stunned, especially when he told her that it was expected to go on for a matter of months. On the plus side, he'd be stationed near to her son Noah (Jack Downham), who moved to Germany some months ago.

How will Charity cope without her husband's support?

Read more:

• Emmerdale airs major Tate family twist - as Graham Foster returns with Joe's baby
• Emmerdale airs Vinny Dingle exit after 7 years with major sentencing twist in early ITVX release
• Emmerdale star teases "rocky road" for Sarah Sugden - and reveals hopes for Debbie Dingle return
• Emmerdale airs explosive Nicola and Sadie King scenes at Jimmy's funeral in early ITVX release

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.

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Authors

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.