Emmerdale has seen Arthur Thomas taking on a new role after star Alfie Clarke returned to the soap.

Laurel’s son appeared in tonight’s hourlong episode after being largely absent from the show in the past few months.

In new scenes, Laurel introduced Arthur to the rest of the staff at The Hide, explaining her son would be working there from now on.

“We are going to be very busy tonight so let’s hope it all goes smoothly,” Laurel said in a pep talk to the restaurant’s waiters.

“I’m not gonna be here but my son is gonna do the odd shift going forward so be very gentle with him, okay?” she continued, adding jokingly: “You have to throw anything at him, no sharp objects.”

“Yeah, or heavy ones,” Arthur added.

Later on, Laurel promised Arthur he would be fine working there.

“Right, love, you’re gonna be absolutely fine,” she told Arthur.

“If there’s any problems, just remember my phone is turned off,” she added as Arthur chuckled.

“Thanks mum, that’s very professional,” he replied.

As Ray Walters walked into The Hide, Arthur immediately clocked that his mum had an interest in him.

“That’s someone I should know about?” he asked as a blushing Laurel brushed it off.

“No,” she hurriedly replied. “Haven’t you got some sort of prep stuff in the kitchen to do, yeah? Go on, see ya.”

Arthur disappeared back into the kitchen while Laurel and Ray had a chat. When he asked her to join him for a beer, she came clean about being in recovery.

“I know addiction,” Ray told her. “I’ve lost friends to it.”

They bonded over having some pretty heavy baggage and decided to go on a spontaneous date. While their outing was cut short when Jai Sharma begged Laurel to drive Archie to a party, it was clear that she had taken a shine to Ray.

It seems the pair will cross paths again, though Laurel ignores Ray’s exploitation of April Windsor alongside his adoptive mum Celia Daniels.