7 Emmerdale Spoilers for Next Week – 28th April to 2nd May

Next week on Emmerdale, Steph loses control as Caleb and Ruby try to help her, John slips up, Liam continues to live in fear, Sarah wants a baby, and Gail has a plan.

1) Caleb and Ruby hurry to help Steph

Still grappling with the recent discovery that grandfather Anthony (Nicholas Day) is actually her biological father, Steph can no longer look at herself in the mirror without Anthony staring back at her.

As such, Steph has decided to take matters into her own hands by arranging a cosmetic procedure, in the hope of changing her appearance to rid any resemblance to him.

“She has intrusive thoughts in the form of imagery and she becomes a little bit obsessed with wanting to change her image,” Georgia Jay tells us.

“She’s wanting to have a nose job and this also develops into wanting to have a brow lift as well, so they’re the two things that she’s focused on at the moment.”

Next week, Steph attends a consultation and undergoes a psychological assessment for a nose job, keeping her true motivations hidden from the consultant as she answers his probing questions.

In an effort to cover her tracks, Steph tells Caleb and Ruby she’s heading off on a short holiday to visit a friend who’s working out in Capri.

The pair are initially relieved by what they see as a return to normality, but are thrown into panic mode the next day when Caleb attempts to check the flight details and discovers the flight number Steph gave them doesn’t exist.

Their concern turns into dread as they snoop through Steph’s laptop and uncover email exchanges with the clinic about her rhinoplasty procedure.

Realising what’s happening, they race against the clock, arriving at the clinic just as Steph is minutes away from going under the knife.

Steph is adamant that she won’t be talked out of it, but it seems the decision is soon taken out of her hands entirely.

“They stop it at the last minute,” Georgia reveals. “They interrupt and stop the surgery from going ahead.”

“She doesn’t react well at all. She’s a young woman, not a child, and has the liberty to make her own choices. It frustrates her that they’re trying to take control of this choice, which she believes is fully hers.

“I think it actually does more damage than we would think, in the sense that it takes her down an avenue that gets her plotting to perhaps harm herself.”

2) Steph loses control

Behind closed doors, a determined Steph frantically calls another clinic to bring forward another appointment that had been made. Eventually her frustration boils over, culminating in a full-blown breakdown where she smashes pots in the kitchen in a fit of rage.

Ross (Michael Parr) is devastated for Steph when he later learns what’s happened. But as he listens whilst trying to console Steph, she suddenly snaps and he’s subjected to a verbal onslaught. She does all she can to push Ross away with venomous words.

“She lashes out verbally and physically,” Georgia continues. “And it’s a really upsetting moment because she is really doing it to herself. The words that she uses are all towards herself they’re not towards him.”

Ross can see through it as he holds steady against the abuse however, eventually forcing Steph to snap out of it.

Plagued with guilt and self-loathing, Steph swipes a bottle of vodka and flees.

“She drives off in her car to the depot and just keeps drinking until she is absolutely obliterated, and doesn’t really know what’s going on.”

Will Steph do something she may come to regret?

3) John slips up

Elsewhere, the radio silence from Nate (Jurell Carter) since his departure in September finally prompts action, leaving John (Oliver Farnworth) in a pickle.

As far as his loved ones are concerned, Nate had left the village for a job on a wind farm in the Shetlands. But little do they realise that Nate never made it out of the village alive, after being inadvertently killed by John before being dumped in a local lake.

Since then ex-wife Tracy (Amy Walsh) has only received a few brief text messages from Nate, as she’s struggled to cope with bringing up their daughter Frankie with no financial support.

Next week, Tracy hands Cain (Jeff Hordley) a birthday card that she and Frankie have made for Nate’s 34th birthday. Stung by his son cutting him off, Cain later leaves a voicemail for Nate, unaware that his phone is in John’s possession.

As John later listens to the voicemail, the phone suddenly starts ringing with another call from Cain. In his panic, John accidentally answers the call, confirming to Cain that someone is on the end of the line.

Exposure only a hair’s breath away, John quickly decides to hang up, dropping the phone as he struggles with the weight of his deception.

The following day, John is in the cafe when he overhears Cain leaving yet another voicemail for Nate, and it’s becoming all too clear that this is a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon…

4) Cain decides to investigate

Cain opens up to Moira about his strange phone call with Nate, who’s heartbroken for him.

Although they had parted on bad terms, with Cain’s mistaken belief that Nate had made a play for Moira, Moira encourages Cain not to give up on reconnecting with his son, giving Cain a much-needed boost.

But when he stops by to speak with Tracy, he’s crushed to learn she doesn’t have Nate’s latest contact details, as she finally admits that she hasn’t actually had any direct contact with him. It’s further proof, in Cain’s eyes, that Nate has turned his back on his family.

Spending time with little Frankie only strengthens Cain’s resolve. Furious at the idea that Nate could abandon his own daughter, Cain tells Tracy he’s heading to Shetland, determined to confront his son once and for all.

Not long after, John drops by to check on Tracy and is visibly unsettled when he learns Cain’s on a mission to track Nate down…

5) Sarah wants a baby!

Meanwhile, after all the drama of Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) and Kammy (Shebz Miah) competing for her affection, Sarah (Katie Hill) drops a bombshell as she makes a decision on what she truly wants in life.

Confiding in Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick), Sarah explains that it’s not romance that she’s after… she wants to become a mum!

Sarah had believed that she was pregnant with Jacob’s baby only a few weeks ago, only to learn from village GP Manpreet (Rebecca Sarker) that it was in fact a false positive.

Though she’d been conflicted, the revelation that she wasn’t pregnant after all hit Sarah hard, given her short life-expectancy and worry that it could have been her only chance to start a family.

While Vanessa listens, concern flickers beneath the surface as Sarah passionately outlines her intent to pursue IVF.

The following day, Sarah pleads her case to Manpreet, eager to prove her condition won’t stand in the way. Though she struggles to respond, knowing the chances of success are unlikely, Manpreet is sympathetic to a determined Sarah’s plight.

Later, Sarah updates Vanessa with the news that she’s already reached out to several clinics to explore her options. Things get awkward when Sarah’s gran Charity (Emma Atkins) walks in mid-conversation, and both Sarah and Vanessa scramble to play it cool.

Vanessa urges Sarah to be honest with Charity about what she’s planning—but is Sarah ready to face that conversation?

6) Liam lives in fear over his attacker

Having suffered his third blow to the head in the space of two months this week, it’s something of a miracle that Liam (Jonny McPherson) is still standing.

Liam had first suffered an injury during the limo crash on Valentine’s Day, which led to a bleed on the brain, before a struggle with ex-girlfriend Ella (Paula Lane) saw him stumble and hit his head on a rock a few weeks back.

But an unprovoked attack in the allotment, which saw him knocked out with a plank of wood, has left Liam concerned about who is out to get him.

Viewers know that the attack was in fact a case of mistaken identity, with John having been the perpetrator. John’s intended target was actually Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb), who had publicly revealed John’s lies over the fate of old boyfriend Aidan Moore, and who he believed would be at the allotment at that time.

Liam and Chas (Lucy Pargeter) are sure that the attacker must have been Ella, still unaware that she had been framed by John in her apparent vendetta against them.

But when PC Swirling (Andy Moore) informs the pair that Ella has a water-tight alibi for the time of the attack, Liam and Chas are stunned.

If not Ella, then who could possibly want to harm him?

With no further clues as to the identity of the attacker, will Liam be left constantly looking over his shoulder?

7) Gail has a plan

Also next week, having struggled to come up with some fresh ideas to liven up the pub, Gail (Rachael Gill-Davies) is ecstatic when she reveals to Ryan (James Moore) that she’s come up with the perfect theme night.

All she needs to do now is get her idea past Charity…

With Gail’s publicised exit on the horizon, could this theme night be the make or break of the character…?