Emmerdale viewers find Lydia Dingle's attack 'hard to watch' and 'uncomfortable'

Recently, Craig Reed and Lydia Dingle from Emmerdale reconnected, and Lydia disclosed that she had given birth to his stillborn son a few years prior.

Lydia agreed to take Craig to their son’s grave despite her first shock upon seeing him in the village.

Craig and Lydia shared an emotional hug in his car before Lydia hurriedly left, feeling bad about their restored connection.

In an effort to maintain some distance between the two tonight, Lydia decided it would be best for her to give in her resignation to Craig, but she found it challenging when he showed how much their connection meant to him.

When he was younger, he admitted, he had plans to win her over. He talked about wanting to whisk her off to the Caribbean so they could begin their life together.

Craig expressed a similar disbelief when he met Lydia at the job fair, and after learning that they had a son, he felt that providence had brought them back together.

He encouraged Lydia not to resign and begged her to think of Amelia (Daisy Campbell) and baby Esther Spencer (Florence Mae Dyson), feeling as though the gods had brought them back together.

After his lengthy speech, Lydia was still hesitant to stay on as Craig’s employee, so he had to confess his love to her and kiss her goodbye.

“What are you doing?” she enquired. In response, he reassured her, “Don’t worry, it’s ok,” pinning her to the couch.

“No, Craig!” screamed Lydia. I don’t… I don’t want to, so just stop. But Craig went on to say, “It’s okay, nobody else is here,” in response.

What an awful f**king moment! Show viewers flocked to Twitter to express their grief, with @Sehguh666 posting: uncomfortable to observe. #Emmerdale Poor Lydia.

@Baker_BCFC said, “Can’t bear to watch this #Emmerdale,” while @ShakyWoon added, “This is hard to watch… #Emmerdale.”

“God poor Lydia,” tweeted @geordiegalg. That #Emmerdale was stomach-turning.

“That was awful to watch,” said @adjalf1. Through the window, they could see him on top of her. I get nauseated from it. #Emmerdale.”

In a recent interview with Metro.co.uk, actress Karen Blick discussed Lydia’s future following the rape and said: “As the shock wears off, Lydia at her core is a protector and that’s what she wants to do, she wants to protect her family from it.

“She just wants her family to be alright, and that’s what’s flowing through the immediate aftermath. She will suppress her own emotions in order to shield Sam and Samson, as well as those close to her, from it.

Naturally, from what we can tell, that won’t work in the long run, and she won’t be able to handle continuing to live that way. She must confront what has occurred to her and find a way to live with it eventually as the story develops.