8 Emmerdale Spoilers for Next Week – 28th July to 1st August

Next week on Emmerdale, a terrified Kyle is confronted by masked intruders, April is reunited with Dylan, John digs for dirt on Robert, and the Dingles are divided following Moira’s arrest.

1) Joe’s determined to acquire Butlers

Battle lines have been firmly drawn between the Dingles of Butlers and the Tates of Home Farm this week, after what seemed like an offer of a lifeline turned out to be nothing of the sort.

Moira (Natalie J Robb) was devastated when a representative of the water company, Noel (Andrew Fillis), came to the farm to inform her that her appeal against the slurry spill fine had been rejected.

Not only was Moira now expected to start paying instalments within two weeks, the amount had also increased dramatically to include the firm’s legal fees.

With Moira at her wits’ end, knowing she would likely lose the farm, an intriguing proposal from Joe (Ned Porteous) soon presented a flicker of hope.

Claiming he was acting on behalf of Kim (Claire King), who’s away on business in Dubai, Joe made an offer to buy Butlers from Moira.

“She thinks about it at first because the offer’s quite good,” Natalie J Robb recently told EverySoap and other press. “They propose to her that she can stay on the farm as a tenant farmer, which in this day and age is quite a common thing.”

“It takes the stress off them, and they still get to work there. But they don’t own it, and at any possible time when a contract ends, they can leave and that could be the end of it, they wouldn’t have any say in it.”

But as Moira considered the offer, Joe admitted to Dawn (Olivia Bromley) that they’d probably find some loophole later down the line in order to turf Moira and the family out.

It soon became a moot point anyway, when Moira then spotted Joe secretly meeting with Noel from the water company, where it was revealed that Joe had paid him to reject the appeal.

“I would rather go under than sell to Kim,” Moira later spat at Joe as she confronted him, as Joe asked if she could really afford to turn down his offer.

Next week, Joe steps up his campaign to claim the farm for Kim. Determined to make his intentions known, Joe confronts Moira and Cain (Jeff Hordley), making it clear he won’t back down. Joe soon reveals to Dawn that he has a plan in the works.

While Moira tries to stay positive in front of young sons Kyle (Huey Quinn) and Isaac (Bobby Dunsmuir), assuring them their home is safe, events soon take a worrying turn…

2) Kyle strikes again!

While Moira is distracted, Kyle and Isaac hear a strange noise coming from the barn. Curiosity gets the better of Kyle, and he heads off to investigate.

Inside, Kyle is confronted by a terrifying sight. “He goes into the barn, and then he sees those two guys with balaclavas on,” Natalie continues. Thinking fast, Kyle grabs a pitchfork for protection.

“The first thing he says is, ‘I’ll tell my dad that you’re here’,” Natalie laughs. But the situation quickly escalates as the masked teens react with aggression. “They get really sinister towards him and start threatening him,” she reveals.

Overwhelmed with fear, Kyle panics and lashes out, accidentally plunging the pitchfork into one of the masked intruders legs… who we later find out is none other than Dylan (Fred Kettle)!

As Dylan reels from the injury, the second intruder becomes even more menacing.

“He’s just about to hurt Kyle,” Natalie explains. “But then of course Moira comes in with a shotgun!”

In the aftermath, Moira is seething, determined that Joe must have been behind the attack.

“Moira actually takes the problem to the police,” Natalie continues. “She’s thinking Joe’s gone another step too far, and he’s the one that sent the guys to threaten her. She goes to the police saying, it’s definitely him, it’s too coincidental.”

But whilst Moira wants to do things by the book, Cain is more focused on revenge.

Meanwhile, Kyle is left upset by the attack, with Natalie pointing out that it’s a reminder of the events of two years ago. “Kyle’s traumatised because of the link he had before with shooting Al, so that brings some stirrings back up for him.”

PC Swirling’s (Andy Moore) investigation soon proves fruitless. With Joe denying any connection and no solid evidence to build a case, frustrations begin to boil over.

When Moira later confronts Joe, her temper snaps and in a moment of rage, she lashes out—only to accidentally strike Lydia (Karen Blick) instead.

3) The Dingle brothers are divided

Shortly afterwards, Kyle is horrified when PC Swirling arrives at Butlers to arrest Moira, following a tip-off about the accidental assault on Lydia.

It’s clear Moira is facing serious repercussions, as Swirling quietly tells her that it’s not looking good for her case. 

The pressure continues to mount when a heated altercation erupts between Cain and Sam at the Woolpack, leaving the Dingles divided.

“Moira doesn’t handle it in the best way, but Sam knows that she hasn’t deliberately done it to Lydia,” Natalie tells us. “He’s divided more because Cain then threatened Lydia, like ‘She better not press charges’“.

“She doesn’t, it’s actually Joe Tate that drops the complaint—he thinks [Lydia’s] a bit of a nutter, but I think Joe quite likes her feistiness as well, that she’s strong, and she’s doing everything she can to keep things together. But Sam doesn’t like the fact that she was threatened.”

With no end to their feud in sight, Cain later delivers Sam a stark ultimatum—will he stand with his family, or side with the Tates?

4) April reunites with Dylan

Elsewhere in the Dingle clan, April’s (Amelia Flanagan) week gets off to a shaky start when Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) informs her that her apprenticeship at Take a Vow cannot continue.

April had explained to concerned dad Marlon (Mark Charnock) how she was loving her work at the wedding planning company, and after a rough time in her final months of school, she had no intention of heading off to college.

Belle’s decision therefore comes as a blow to April, but it doesn’t take long for her to twig that it’s Marlon’s doing.

Determined not to let this opportunity slip away, April pleads her case to Marlon. Her heartfelt plea strikes a chord, and Marlon eventually relents, giving April his blessing to continue with the apprenticeship.

Elsewhere, Laurel becomes uneasy after spotting someone lurking in the bushes, and later, whilst visiting Donna’s grave, April also notices movement nearby. She soon realises it’s someone she knows, and urges Dylan to come out of hiding.

Dylan’s last appearance saw him heading to rehab, funded by Marlon, who had planted drugs on him in a misguided attempt to discredit him in front of April. The incident caused Dylan to relapse and end up in hospital, with Marlon’s guilt causing him to offer to help.

The reunion is emotional as Dylan assures April he’s now clean, having turned his life around. April is delighted to have her friend back, but Dylan’s circumstances are far from stable.

Later that evening, as he prepares to spend the night at the Cricket Pavilion, Dylan checks the injury to his leg—the wound from Kyle’s pitchfork attack — and it’s evident that it’s getting worse.

The next day, Dylan and April make plans for a proper catch-up, but their the date is soon abandoned when Dylan spots Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) in the village.

Ray was recently seen as the dealer that Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb) contacted, in an attempt to offload Lewis’s weed crop to raise some cash for the farm. In the end, Robert (Ryan Hawley) swiped the lot and sold them to Ray himself.

Dylan panics on seeing Ray, and it soon falls into place that Ray was the one who had instructed Dylan to raid Moira’s barn, hoping to find more crop.

As the week progresses, Dylan’s reluctance to open up, combined with his worsening condition, leaves April increasingly concerned about his wellbeing.

5) Mack struggles with the surrogacy plans

Elsewhere in the village, Sarah (Katie Hill) and Charity’s (Emma Atkins) surrogacy journey is set to begin as they attend their first appointment at the hospital.

Charity has, somewhat controversially, agreed to carry a child for her granddaughter, after she was forced to undergo an emergency hysterectomy during cervical cancer surgery.

Sarah’s now-fiancé Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) had already donated sperm for a planned IVF procedure, so it seemed to be the ideal solution for Sarah after she was turned down by surrogacy agencies due to her life-limiting Fanconi anaemia. 

Charity’s husband Mack struggled with the news of Charity’s offer however, particularly after they’d lost their own baby to an ectopic pregnancy which led to Charity declaring she didn’t want to try again.

As Charity and Sarah prepare to set off for the clinic, Mack claims he needs to stay behind and work at Butlers. As Mack tries to distract himself, a chat with Aaron (Danny Miller) leads to Mack opening up about his reluctance to attend the appointment.

Encouraged by Aaron, Mack has a change of heart and arrives at the clinic just in time to hear that Charity’s procedure has gone smoothly. Yet, as the family celebrate, Mack keeps his feelings to himself.

The following day, Aaron urges Mack to have an honest conversation with Charity about his concerns.

When Charity is left feeling overwhelmed by Sarah and Jacob fussing over her, she asks Sarah to go out in an attempt to get some peace. Once alone, Charity confides in Mack about her worries, but will Mack finally open up about his true feelings?

6) John digs for dirt on Robert

Meanwhile, Robert’s suspicions about his brother John (Oliver Farnworth) continue to grow, as he comes closer to uncovering his deadly secrets.

Alarm bells rang for Robert this week, when he learned that John had visited the home of Owen (Simon Haines), who was later discovered dead with a suicide note confessing to his apparent killing of Nate (Jurell Carter). 

Unknown to everyone, John had of course discovered Owen, who had already passed away from an overdose, and forged the letter to frame Owen for his own crime.

When Robert subsequently discovered from Owen’s brother, Steve, that he was actually with him in Hull during the time of Nate’s death, Robert attempted to go to the police.

But with Steve refusing to corroborate the story to prove his brother’s innocence, not wishing to alert authorities to there whereabouts whilst doing something clearly illegal, Robert hit a brick wall.

After saving Jacob’s life recently, John has become something of a local hero, and Eric (Chris Chittell) is only too happy to regale Robert with stories of all the people John has helped. But rather than being impressed, Robert’s mind starts to whir. The more he hears, the more convinced he becomes that John’s public image is too good to be true.

Chas (Lucy Pargeter), however, is having none of it when Robert voices his concerns. She dismisses Robert’s theory, insisting that he’s reading too much into things. But Robert isn’t ready to let it drop.

Spotting an opportunity when John leaves his phone unattended in the cafe, Robert attempts to snoop through it, hoping to find something that will back up his instincts. However, John returns before Robert can dig into anything, catching him red-handed.

Robert awkwardly hands the phone back, but the moment sets alarm bells ringing for John. He later confides in Chas, voicing his concerns about Robert’s erratic behaviour, but she brushes it off as Robert being jealous.

But as Robert’s fixation deepens, affecting his mental health further, Victoria urges him to seek help, worried that he’s letting his paranoia take over. Robert refuses, unwilling to back down in his belief that John is hiding something.

Meanwhile, after agreeing to ask Liam (Jonny McPherson) to check in on Robert, John takes matters into his own hands. Determined to keep tabs on Robert, John gains access to Keepers and covertly plants a listening device.

Later, he eagerly listens in on one of Robert’s conversations, desperate to gather information. When he finally hears something that could be incriminating, John is buoyed, believing he’s now got some leverage over his brother.

Word of John’s discovery doesn’t stay secret for long. Ross, ever the opportunist, is intrigued when he learns John may have found dirt on Robert.

As things get even worse for Robert, and with both brothers circling each other, it’s only a matter of time before things explode.

7) Lewis plays matchmaker

Over at the cafe, Lewis (Bradley Riches) continues to impress Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) with his tech-savviness as he works on developing an app for the business. But his attention soon shifts to Steph (Georgia Jay) after she confides that she regrets how things ended with Ross.

Determined to play matchmaker for his newfound half-brother, Lewis sets out to reunite the pair, but whether Ross is ready to listen Lewis’s relationship advice remains to be seen.

8) Celia forms a plan

Also next week, it looks as though new arrival Celia (Jaye Griffiths) is about to take aim against another village resident, but will she be biting off more than she can chew?

Celia’s already shown her true nature after Paddy (Dominic Brunt) was attacked by a dog in one of her fields, so when Celia is left annoyed after Kim increases the rent on the farm she’s leasing, we’re left wondering just how she’ll react.

And where exactly does Moira fit into Celia’s plan, when she calls over at Butlers for another wee chat…?