A challenging story is afoot (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale boss Jane Hudson recently got fans speculating when she teased a huge storyline for 2023 that will centre on Cathy Hope (Gabrielle Dowling).

‘There is a big storyline for Cathy, Bob (Tony Audenshaw)’s daughter, that’s really emotional too,’ she said while discussing what’s to come in the new year with Metro.co.uk.

’It’s her first big storyline and it’s a challenging one and I think it’s one a lot of parents will connect with. It’s one I haven’t seen a soap do before either.’

Jane said that the storyline would also provide some new material for Bob.

It’s honestly quite hard to think of a storyline that no soap has done before, which has only made Jane’s words more of a challenge to fans who’ve been busy trying to work out what could be in store for Cathy.

Because Jane emphasised Bob’s involvement in the story, some early theories aired on social media suggested that it could be a baby-swap story.

‘I bet it turns out Cathy isn’t Bob’s daughter or Heath (Sebastian Dowling)’s twin and there was a mix-up at the hospital,’ one person theorised.

But we have seen a baby swap story before on a soap, as Coronation Street’s Michelle Connor’s son Alex was swapped at birth with Ryan, who she brought up as her own child.

So just what is going on? (Picture: ITV)

Cathy and Heath are played by real life wins Gabrielle and Sebastian Dowling, which has led people to conclude it’s not plausible for them not to be twins.

‘I don’t think they would mix twins up would they? And they look so alike because they are twins in real life so if it’s that it will be a bit far fetched!’ one commenter observed.

So another idea people have come up with is that Heath and Cathy could indeed be twins, but have different fathers – which is a biological possibility.

More: Trending

So Bob could be Heath’s father but not Cathy’s – opening up the question of who Cathy’s real father could be and Bob finding out that Viv (Deena Payne) cheated on him.

This would certainly provide new material for Bob, as Jane Hudson suggested.

And it would be a massive story for Cathy as she would start to question her whole identity after finding out Bob is not her father.

Or is this a complete red herring and it’s something else altogether?

MORE : Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley warns that Cain may kill for real: ‘It’s the nature of his DNA’

MORE : Emmerdale’s Charley Webb ‘p***** off’ after crashing her car

It’s wild – but they seem to be on together.