5 Emmerdale Spoilers for Next Week – 17th to 21st August

Next week on Emmerdale, Dawn’s tempted to eliminate Joe once and for all, Ruby gains the upper hand over Kev, and Jimmy hides the full extent of their financial crisis from Nicola.

1) Charity fights to protect Sarah

Charity’s (Emma Atkins) attempt to protect Sarah continues next week, as the police refuse to accept their account of Dr Todd’s (Caroline Harker) death at face value.

Sarah (Katie Hill) accidentally killed Todd after walking in on Charity confronting her about the rape.

Horrified by what she’d overheard, Sarah pushed Todd away, causing her to trip over the rug and strike her head on the corner of a table.

When Serena (Casey Al-Shaqsy) arrived at Jacob’s Fold and discovered what had happened, she warned that Sarah could face a manslaughter charge if they told the police the truth.

Serena began working out how Sarah could argue that she’d acted in defence of her gran, but Charity had other ideas. She called the police and claimed that she’d killed Todd, leaving both Sarah and Serena stunned as they realised that she intended to take the blame.

With officers already on their way, Serena reluctantly helped them construct a false account in which Todd had attacked Charity. She then used the dead doctor’s hand to scratch Charity’s arm, leaving supporting forensic evidence beneath Todd’s fingernails.

However, the police have remained suspicious of their story.

Sarah struggled to keep her account consistent under questioning from DC Price (Dean Smith), whilst DS Thea Ramsden (Chelsea Edge) later accused former police officer Serena of coordinating her statement with the others.

When the story continues on Monday, Charity and Serena catch up following the traumatic events of the past week, but their conversation is interrupted by Thea.

Despite the detective’s suspicions, Charity maintains her false confession and remains determined to keep Sarah out of prison.

Meanwhile, knowing that Sarah’s struggling, Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) promises that he won’t ask any more questions about Todd’s death.

But his decision only leaves Sarah feeling worse, as she wrestles with her guilt over continuing to deceive her husband.

2) Ruby gains the upper hand on Kev

Kev’s (Chris Coghill) determination to leave his criminal past behind is put into jeopardy again next week, as Ruby (Beth Cordingly) draws him into her plot against Jimmy (Nick Miles).

Kev has repeatedly insisted that he wants to stay out of trouble so that he can build a genuine relationship with his newly-found son Lewis (Bradley Riches).

At the end of this week, Ruby approached Kev with a plan to rob a delivery destined for Jimmy’s new haulage contract, calling it high-gain and low-risk.

However, he refused to become involved, insisting that he wouldn’t risk the progress he’d made with Lewis.

But Ruby hasn’t abandoned her plan, and when the story continues next week, Jimmy and Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) discover that the B&B is in serious financial trouble.

The timing couldn’t be worse, as Jimmy’s son Elliot (Luca Hoyle) has just secured the grades he needs to attend university at St Andrews.

Jimmy has already admitted to Bob (Tony Audenshaw) that Elliot’s student loan won’t come close to covering all of the costs, leaving him anxious to find the money to support his son.

Unbeknownst to them, Ruby is still plotting to use the haulage firm delivery to deepen their financial problems—and this time, she succeeds in enlisting Kev to help.

“It’s complicated for Kev,” Chris Coghill recently told EverySoap and other press. “Because Jimmy is Nicola’s husband, and Kev’s trying to make things a bit better with Nicola as well, because of her relationship with Lewis.”

Nevertheless, Kev steals a van and swipes Jimmy’s shipment, allowing Ruby’s plan to go ahead and leaving Jimmy in an even more precarious position.

“Ruby sees an opportunity where she and Caleb can stitch Jimmy up and make him lose a contract,” Will Ash added. “So then they can buy his half of the business at a cut down price.”

Whilst Kev was promised a high-end haul at the end of it, he’s fuming when he discovers he’s actually ended up with 3,000 nappies!

When Kev confronts Ruby, she quickly puts him in his place by revealing that she has in her possession the footage of him attacking Billy (Jay Kontzle) at the depot!

3) Will Dawn shoot Joe?

Up at Home Farm, Dawn (Olivia Bromley) leaves Billy terrified next week, when her aim drifts towards Joe (Ned Porteous) during a clay pigeon shoot.

Billy and Dawn are currently preparing to flee the village together after he claimed that Joe was responsible for the attack which left him fighting for his life.

Dawn initially struggled to believe that Joe would do something which could have such a devastating impact on the children. However, after being fed the theory by Caleb (Will Ash), Billy insisted that he was certain, leaving her convinced that she’d been wrong to trust her fiancé.

Feeling trapped by the fact that she’s carrying Joe’s baby, Dawn accepted Billy’s offer for them to leave the country and start again with the children.

The pair settled on Spain as their destination, where they would remain close to a specialist hospital if two-year-old Evan (Malachi McKenzie) ever needed further treatment.

Billy later cleared Joe’s name with the police, but explained to Caleb that this was merely intended to make his rival feel complacent ahead of their escape.

With Caleb and Ruby helping them obtain fake passports, Dawn and Billy decide that Joe’s stag do offers the perfect opportunity to put their plan into action.

On Tuesday, Joe appears to set off for his celebrations, unaware that Dawn and Billy are preparing to disappear.

The pair tell Clemmie (Mabel Addison) and Lucas (Noah Ryan Aspinall) that they’re all going on holiday, but their departure is thwarted when Graham (Andrew Scarborough) appears unexpectedly!

Graham takes a nervous Billy and Dawn out to one of the fields on the estate, where they discover that Joe has abandoned his planned stag do in favour of a surprise joint “sten do” for everyone.

Billy and Dawn struggle to hide their alarm as the guests prepare for a clay pigeon shoot, whilst Caleb is unable to contact them as he waits with their passports.

The tension intensifies when Dawn steps forward to take her turn. As she raises the gun, her aim begins to drift towards an unsuspecting Joe.

Billy watches in horror, terrified by what a desperate Dawn might be capable of!

4) Kev exposes the truth about Billy’s attack

Back in the village, Kev finds a way to eliminate the problem posed by Ruby’s incriminating footage, after realising that it must be stored on Caleb’s laptop.

“Foolishly, Caleb and Ruby are on their laptop in the café in front of him,” Will explains. “All the evidence is right in front of him, and Kev’s got a jug of water.”

“…a jug of water, and a right foot!” Chris interjects.

However, his own loose tongue soon threatens to undo all of his efforts.

After joining the “sten do” celebrations at The Hide, a slightly tipsy Kev stumbles over to Billy and apologises for putting him in hospital—revealing that he was the person who attacked him.

“Billy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Chris states. “Kev thinks he’s just given him a little love tap, to stop him in his tracks, but it was a bit more serious than that!”

Billy is stunned as the implications of Kev’s confession sink in. Not only has he discovered the identity of his attacker, he also realises that Caleb and Ruby knew the truth and kept it from him.

The revelation also confirms that Billy’s entire escape plan with Dawn has been built on a lie. Dawn only agreed to flee after Billy convinced her that Joe was responsible for the attack, leaving her unaware that her fiancé was innocent on this occasion.

Kev later warns Caleb and Ruby that he won’t take the blame alone if the truth comes out. If he faces prison for attacking Billy, he’ll expose their own crimes in return.

Billy goes on to demand the fake passports that Caleb and Ruby obtained for his escape with Dawn. However, Caleb refuses to hand them over until the wedding day, determined to ensure that their disappearance ruins Joe’s big moment.

“Caleb realises that he’s not going to be able to kill Joe, but he can ruin his life,” Will adds. “That’s what he tries to do through Joe’s relationship with Dawn.”

“He figures out that what Joe loves most is the happiness he has with her, and he wants to decimate that.”

But what will Dawn do if she discovers that Joe didn’t attack Billy—and that her plans to leave him have been based on a lie?

5) Jimmy hides a financial crisis from Nicola

Jimmy and Nicola’s financial worries continue to grow later in the week, just as they begin looking towards a new chapter in their marriage.

Nicola recently admitted that she feared their marriage had become stale. Jimmy’s attempt to reassure her with a date fell flat when he revealed that he planned to spend more time playing golf once the children had left home.

However, he later made amends by presenting Nicola with a necklace and suggesting that he could eventually take semi-retirement so they could spend more time together.

When Lewis suggests that the couple could renew their wedding vows, it prompts Nicola to reminisce about their wedding day sixteen years ago.

The idea soon captures her imagination, and Nicola happily pictures both their vow renewal and the experiences awaiting Elliot when he begins university at St Andrews.

However, Jimmy is privately consumed by their worsening financial problems. His fears intensify when he opens a letter and sees the words “mortgage arrears”.

By Friday, the pressure forces Jimmy to make a major decision. With the B&B struggling and the haulage company’s new contract ruined, he plays straight into Caleb and Ruby’s hands by selling them his share of Home James Haulage.

Meanwhile, Nicola is delighted when Jimmy agrees to renew their vows, unaware of the full extent of the worries he’s keeping from her.