During the Emmerdale Christmas special, dubbed ‘Groundhog Day meets a Christmas Carol’, Robert Sugden (played by Ryan Hawley) found himself recovering from being run down by Lawrence White (John Bowe). 

Robert found himself coming around in various scenarios, unable to work out which of them were real. 

However, he found himself in his worst nightmare when he woke up in the middle of Aaron Dingle’s (Danny Miller) funeral. 

As Aaron’s hearse drove past, Robert was greeted by a ghost from Emmerdale’s past - the legendary Val Pollard (Charlie Hardwick).

Val was famously decapitated in a mirror maze when a helicopter crashed into the Yorkshire village as a result of Chrissie White’s (Louise Marwood) revenge against Robert. 

As a “moral guardian to Robert”, Val warned the Emmerdale bad boy: “You're bad, you do bad stuff. You do bad stuff, it hurts people."

She then urged Robert to let Aaron go as he continues to cause his former husband nothing but misery. 

Actress Charlie has now spilled all about her surprising return, revealing she had to keep her welcomed cameo unbelievably close to her chest. 

“It was very hard to keep it a secret, as during my time on the show I never blabbed about anything,” she said. “And in fact I always hated any show spoilers.”

“But because we were keeping this a secret for the first time ever, I wanted to tell everybody about it. I wanted to say, 'Watch on Christmas Day, I'm going to be on' but I couldn't tell anybody about it. The irony!"

She continued to Digital Spy: “My overwhelming feeling of the day being back at Emmerdale was how much I love it and how much I miss it. I know I made the right decision to leave, but it was a real treat to be able to relive it all again. 

“After ten minutes back, it was like I'd never been away and I was bossing everybody around.

"It was lovely to be there, it was genuinely lovely and it was a treat and a real privilege to get the chance after her demise to go back and see people one more time. This time I really got the chance to say proper goodbyes without the whole leaving bit."

Emmerdale continues tomorrow at 6.10pm on ITV.