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In June, Emmerdale’s John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) told Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) that he had been acting as a listening ear to Tracy Shankley (Amy Walsh), who hadn’t long discovered Nate Robinson’s murder.
John explained that he was feeling overwhelmed by all of the texts Tracy had been sending him, so Manpreet handed him a leaflet for a mental health charity.
She told John to pass it to Tracy and encourage her to speak to a volunteer instead. John said that he would, but ended up contacting them himself.
In July, Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) began a job at the charity. He then connected to John’s chatline and has been communicating with him ever since.
Up until tonight’s episode, neither of the men knew who they were talking to.
Paddy’s concern for the unknown man played on his mind a lot at the start of the instalment. He told Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) that it would be really beneficial if he could speak to the person over the phone, because he thinks he can assist with getting him some help.
But until the call came through, Paddy had no choice but to wait.
Meanwhile, in the underground bunker, John was busy preparing some spiked whisky. He had just received confirmation that Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) had slept with Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley), and wanted to do something to ensure his husband was completely dependent on him.
Leaving Aaron in a drugged daze on the sofa, John sat outside the house and called the helpline.
At Tenants, Paddy was surprised to hear the notification come through, but he popped his headset on, took a breath, and prepared himself.
At the start, the things that John said didn’t particularly reveal a lot, but the tone changed when he confirmed that his brother was in prison for murder.
It was at this point that we were able to learn more about John’s mindset. He told Paddy that it feels as though he’s constantly compared to Robert, and he hates how that makes him feel.
John is usually so switched on, but the worry that Aaron is going to leave him made him paranoid and panicked. He started to tell Paddy that his brother turned up on his wedding day, and that he kissed his now husband.
John had dropped far too many clues, which meant by the time he said this, Paddy had glanced at a picture of John and Aaron and managed to work out who he was talking to.
Fortunately, John hadn’t recognised the voice on the line, which meant he just kept talking. Everything he said as the call continued left Paddy seriously concerned that John may hurt himself, or someone near him.
John ended the chat before Paddy could feel settled in his mind that nothing disastrous was about to happen. Of course, while he had learnt about John’s welfare, he didn’t know the extent of how his mind works.
John had rushed back into the cottage and was tending to a very unwell Aaron. He then glanced at the camera set up outside the underground bunker and witnessed Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) escaping.
As John raced to find Mack, Paddy had called Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) over. He kept things confidential, but confirmed that he’s worried about a caller and now doesn’t know what to do.
He feared something bad had happened to the man due to how abruptly the call ended. Liam reminded Paddy of the rules of the job and said that if he crossed a line and searched for answers, his role at the charity could potentially change or get taken away from him.
Liam told Paddy that he shouldn’t act on a hunch because, for all he knows, said hunch could be wrong.
But it isn’t.
Before the instalment finished, Mackenzie had managed to stagger through the woods without John knowing. He had come across a road and fell to the floor as a van arrived.
Sadly, the van turned out to be John’s, as he had noticed Mack’s disappearance and went out to search for him. He got out of the vehicle with an axe in his hand – but the credits rolled before we could discover what happened next.
In future episodes, Paddy will share his concerns about John to Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins), eventually leading to the showdown with John, Robert and Aaron.
The duo will learn the truth about John, but what about Mackenzie?
Providing he hasn’t been killed, will anyone find him?
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·