Emmerdale spoilers follow from Wednesday’s episode (28 January), which is available to watch now on ITVX and YouTube but hasn’t yet aired on ITV1.
Emmerdale’s Joe Tate shares some heartbreaking secrets tonight, as he struggles to comprehend Graham Foster’s shocking return. As Joe feels duped by the man he once treated as a father figure, he reveals sad details of how much Graham’s “death” affected him six years ago.
Wednesday’s visit to the Dales is largely a three-hander special, focusing on Joe, Graham and Kim Tate – aside from the police also making a brief appearance. As Joe and Kim are left shaken by Graham’s true fate, it’s clear that the dynamic at Home Farm will never be the same again.
Graham’s comeback allows the show to shed new light on what life was like for Joe during his own years away from the village.
In a rare moment where he shows a softer side, Joe recalls how his world was turned upside-down when he thought that Graham had been murdered.
ITV
Related: Emmerdale’s Graham to shock villagers with dramatic pub return
“Grief is like a hand that grabs you by the neck – and it never lets go,” Joe explains.
When Graham points out that Joe had his whole life ahead of him, Joe replies: “Have you got any idea how close that life came to ending? The lights had gone out on me. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping. I was just shoving things down my throat to numb the pain. Pills, opioids.
“When you do that enough, it has consequences. Your organs start to fail. And the next thing you know, you’re on an operating table trying to replace the kidney that you’d done your very best to destroy.”
As tempers continue to reach boiling point, Joe berates Graham for his years of silence. However, he also has reasons to blame Kim – pointing out that she drove Graham out and made him feel like it’d be unsafe to return.
ITV
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Andrew Scarborough, who plays Graham, previously teased tonight’s episode by telling us: “It was brilliant because it was like a Play For Today. It was lovely to flesh that out and it was very well written.
“The scenes are quite heightened, which I think they should be, as it’s an unreal situation for somebody to come back from the dead.
“I loved acting in these scenes because we were bouncing things around like tennis balls and that is what it should be. I think many actors would know what I’m talking about.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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