Soaps’ sickest storylines after fans call for arrest of Emmerdale ‘paedo’ Cain Dingle – from twincest to ‘buried alive’

FURIOUS soap fans kicked off this week after an old Emmerdale storyline resurfaced revealing Cain Dingle as a 'paedo'.

A repeat of a 2001 episode showed him bed 15-year-old Ollie Reynolds in a sick revenge scheme against her mum Angie - Cain's ex.

Horrified viewers branded the village bad boy - played by Jeff Hordley - "disgusting" and a "dirty dog", and called for him to be sent to prison for the historic sexual abuse.

Over the years soaps have often faced criticism for going too far with dark storylines aimed at shocking and enticing fans.

From incestuous sexual relationships to stealing a baby, here we look back at some of soapland's sickest plotlines.

EastEnders - Lauren Branning beds her cousin

In one squirm-inducing ‘Enders storyline, Lauren Branning fell in love with her own cousin Joey Branning, after he moved in with her dad Max. 

The teen alcoholic, played by Jaqueline Jossa, began an affair, but the pair were caught in the act by Joey’s dad - Lauren’s uncle Derek. 

After Derek had a heart attack and died they were then caught kissing by Branning matriarch Dot, who was horrified. 

Weirdly the rest of the Branning clan appeared to accept the relationship - the line was seemingly only crossed when Lauren found out Joey cheated on her with Whitney Dean.

When Joey left the square in 2013, he unsuccessfully tried to tempt Lauren away with him, but she stayed put.

Emmerdale - Charity Dingle has a baby with her cousin

Not to be outdone by EastEnders, Emmerdale took matters a step further with two cousins producing a sprog. 

Charity Dingle and aforementioned paedo Cain were teens when they had a relationship which produced a daughter - Debbie Dingle - who went into foster care. 

As second-cousins, their relationship was not illegal under UK law, but still pretty creepy. 

After being reunited, Cain and married Charity picked up their affair again - but it all ended in tears.

They nearly reunited years later, but Charity's intentions weren't exactly honourable as she was trying to scam him out of cash.

Hollyoaks - Twin-cest between Sienna Blake and Dodger Savage

Their ridiculous names are the least of these twins' problems - especially after they had a child together.

Dodger Savage and Sienna Blake were separated in childhood and by chance hooked up in their teens, conceiving Nico. 

But their dad Patrick lied to Sienna that the baby had been stillborn and secretly put her up for adoption. 

Two years after Sienna arrived in Hollyoaks, her long lost daughter rocked up too.

They didn't recognise each other, but Patrick soon broke the news that Dodger was Nico’s dad-uncle. 

When Dodger began dating Maxine Minniver, Sienna became unhinged with jealousy - stabbing him in the leg and kidnapping him. 

After Sienna was put in a mental facility, Dodger covered his daughter’s tracks after she murdered his half brother - her uncle Will - and fled Hollyoaks.

Brookside - Siblings Nat and Georgia fall in love 

The original incest storyline emerged from Brookside in 1996, with brother Nat and sister Georgia Simpson becoming close - too close. 

Seven million viewers tuned in to watch a controversial bedroom scene - the day before Nat’s wedding to bride Jules - while comforting each other after a family member died. 

Eventually the couple broke the news to their disgusted parents Ollie and Bel.

Later Georgia fell pregnant and needed an abortion, before moving to a new town with Nat. 

Ofcom's predecessor the Broadcasting Standards Council ordered Channel 4 to apologise for the pre-watershed storyline. 

Helen Grace, who played Georgia, said at the time: "I thought that, as long as we're not seen to condone incest, then it would be OK.”

EastEnders - Ronnie swaps babies with Kat Slater

When Ronnie Branning’s son tragically died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, she swapped him for Kat Moon - nee Slater’s - newborn. 

In a moment of madness, Ronnie switched James for Tommy after hearing him cry upstairs In the Queen Vic during a special New Year’s Eve two-parter.

She tried to switch the babies back but it was too late as Kat found the body. 

The charade continued until Ronnie eventually came clean and the Moons were reunited with Tommy. 

The storyline attracted more than 1,000 Ofcom complaints. 

Corrie - Michael Rodwell, his fake son and his real son all die

What do you do when your flatmate is off travelling? Pretend to be him and reunite with his estranged father, of course. 

It might sound mad, but Andy Carver pretended to be Michael Rodwell’s son Gavin after reading a letter from him. 

Former con Michael welcomed fake Gavin as his own, but bride-to-be Gail Platt discovered Andy’s secret when the real Gavin came back from Thailand and blackmailed her. 

She decided not to tell Michael for fear of giving him a heart attack - die to to his hereditary heart problem.

Dogged by the same problem with his ticker, the real Gavin then had a heart attack at the wheel and died in a crash. 

Later Michael was flicking through a family album when he realised Andy was in fact not Gavin - but the pair eventually made amends.

When Michael had a fatal heart attack escaping from Corrie serial killer Pat Phelan, Andy began to investigate. 

Realising he was on to him, Phelan kidnapped Andy and held him hostage before killing him and hiding his body in a building’s cement pillars. 

EastEnders - Tanya Branning buries Max alive

Understandably Tanya Branning was rather irked when she discovered hubby Max was having it away with daughter-in-law Stacey. 

But things escalated when, instead of kicking him to the curb, she decided to go full psycho and bury him alive in a 2008 episode. 

With her lover Sean Slater, Tanya spiked Max’s drink and drove him out  to Epping Forest.

Inspired by a childhood tale where dad Jim Branning had shut Max in a coffin, Tanya buried him in a shallow grave. 

In the special Easter episode, Max was resurrected by Tanya after six hours when she felt bad, and admitted she still loved him.

One viewer said at the time: "I know Max did a lot of horrible things, but that as a storyline of getting buried alive was very inappropriate for a soap."

EastEnders - Bobby murders Lucy Beale 

In the long-running Who Killed Lucy whodunit, viewers were gobsmacked when little maniac Bobby turned out to be the culprit. 

Lucy had just about annoyed everyone on the square - with her spiralling cocaine use and affair with Max Branning. 

In a flashback episode, Jane discovered Bobby killed Lucy with her jewellery box, and hid her body. 

Poor old Max was put in prison for the murder while Jane covered up Bobby’s crime. 

Ian and Jane tried to send Bobby away to boarding school but couldn’t afford it - and in retaliation, ungrateful Bobby attacked Jane with a hockey stick. 

Bobby later admitted murder and GBH charges and was put away for a measly three years. 

Emmerdale - Maya Stepney grooms her boyfriend’s son

Teacher Maya found love with David Metcalfe - but enjoyed wild sex with his teenage son.

After having an affair, Maya moved in with David to continue their relationship.

But she soon started grooming his son Jacob who was just 15. 

Jacob’s ex-girlfriend walked in on Maya and Jacob in bed together and began to blackmail them. 

When Maya was spotted publicly snogging Jacob she turned the tables and accused him of sexually assaulting her. 

No one believed her lies though, and she was put in prison for abusing Jacob. 

When she got out she was pregnant, and later dumped her baby on David’s doorstep. 

After a "Who’s the daddy” saga, a DNA test proved David was little Theo's father and he became a doting dad.