6 Emmerdale Spoilers for Next Week – 12th to 16th May

Next week on Emmerdale, Ross meets his half-brother, an awkward incident prompts Liam to move in with Chas, and the village is in danger as Mackenzie and John’s feud intensifies.

1) Will Joe survive?

As the week begins, the question on everybody’s lips is ‘Who pushed Joe Tate?’

After an explosive gathering for Lydia’s 50th at Home Farm saw all of Joe’s (Ned Porteous) horrific secrets revealed, there were no shortage of suspects when he later plummeted from a first floor window of the mansion.

Joe is now lying in an induced coma at Hotten General, and whilst our lips are firmly sealed as to what happens next, actor Ned Porteous admits that Joe had it coming.

“Someone’s always got it in for poor Joe,” Ned told EverySoap and other press at a screening last week. “He doesn’t have the easiest life, but then he kind of asks for it. I think there was probably a more tactful way to go around doing what he had to do.”

“You’ve always got to find a reason for motivating your character to do what he’s doing. I’m not excusing what he’s doing. I’m just saying, it’s a hard time. His motivation was clearly to live, and I think he was put in quite a tricky situation where he realised that had he gone the legal route to doing what he had to do, he might die.”

“He felt like his hand was forced to do something which is putting other people in jeopardy, and I think that’s a choice that he was able to make and happily put his life above others.”

As the police continue their enquiries to find the culprit, whether we will find out whodunnit next week is still a closely guarded secret.

But if Joe does pull through, Ned doesn’t believe he’ll take it lying down.

“I’m sure there’ll be some sort of vengeance,” he adds. “It’s not the nicest thing to get pushed out of a window, so I’m sure he’s a little bit miffed about that!”

2) Ross meets his long-lost half-brother

Over at Butlers, Moira’s (Natalie J Robb) past comes back to haunt her when she receives a letter addressed to ‘The Family of Emma Barton’.

Moira was of course responsible for the death of her wicked sister-in-law, mother to Ross (Mike Parr), back in 2017, and it’s a chapter of their lives that they both thought was long over.

Moira has a difficult decision to make, initially opting to not tell her nephew about the correspondence.

But Moira’s conscience eventually gets the better of her, and she finally shows Ross the letter. Ross is left reeling when it reveals that he has a half-brother that he never knew about—Lewis (Bradley Riches)!

“Lewis and Ross have the same mum, Emma Barton, who obviously got pushed off a bridge about ten years ago, but they don’t have the same dad,” Bradley Riches tells us, as he and Mike Parr join us for a chat.

“Lewis writes a letter to Ross, to basically just get this relationship, because he didn’t have any family growing up. I think he wants to get to know his half-brother, as well as getting to know things about his mum, that obviously he’d never had the opportunity to know.”

“There was a moment where she left her family, I think it was a space of two to three years, and obviously she had a secret child, Lewis,” Bradley continues. “She gave him away for adoption. He didn’t ever know her, but he knew of her, and I think that’s what made him want to reach out to get to know her more.”

Struggling to deal with the revelation, Ross decides to ignore the letter and bury his head in the sand, much to Moira’s concern.

It’s some advice from Matty (Ash Palmisciano) that eventually persuades Ross to reach out to Lewis, reminding him that he has nothing to lose and it could actually change his life for the better.

When Ross subsequently tells his aunt that he planning on meeting up with Lewis that very day, Moira is troubled, knowing that one slip-up could see her dark secret come back to bite her.

As Ross finally comes face-to-face with Lewis in some woodlands, Ross struggles to deal with Lewis’s numerous questions about their family, mindful of the various things he needs to keep under wraps.

“It’s quite overwhelming for Ross because it obviously brings up so many bad memories,” Mike Parr tells us. “And not only from having lost a brother before—his favourite brother (nothing against Pete!)—but there’s just so many secrets.”

“Having to tell somebody who’s built up these dreams and glorified this mother figure in their life, to have to let them down and say she was actually bonkers, it’s not great!”

The more the half-siblings try to discuss the past, the more they end up inadvertently vexing one another.

“Lewis is quite an outgoing character, but he’s not afraid to say the wrong thing,” Bradley continues. “I don’t think he knows he’s saying the wrong thing sometimes, I think he’s just very straight to the point.

“When you first meet someone and you ask questions, you’re kind of like walking on eggshells to make sure you’re not being too much. But with Ross, Lewis is straight in with all the hard questions, and he’s a bit like ‘What the hell, what is this guy doing?’”

In the end it all becomes too much for Ross as he decides to leave, turning his back on an upset Lewis.

There may be a glimmer of relief for Moira when Ross later tells her that all big plans for a family reunion are off, but it won’t be long before Lewis is rearing his head again…

3) Mackenzie and John’s feud intensifies

Elsewhere, John (Oliver Farnworth) and Mackenzie’s (Lawrence Boyd) rivalry reaches new heights, leading to the lives of village residents being put in danger.

The two haven’t got along ever since John first arrived in the village last year, but Mack remains blissfully unaware of the dangerous man he is dealing with.

In recent episodes, viewers have learned that John harbours a disturbing hero complex—engineering perilous situations just so he can swoop in as the saviour.

His twisted behaviour has already seen him target both Chas and Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) in the past few months, but a previous scheme involving an injured Nate (Jurell Carter)—who was preparing to leave the village—tragically ended in Nate’s accidental death.

John covered up the death, dumping Nate’s body in a local lake where it is still waiting to be discovered.

To fuel his obsession, John has secretly put himself forward for a heroism award, and as he prepares to receive the honour next week, John is lapping up the attention.

However, plans go awry when Aaron (Danny Miller) suffers a mental health crisis on the day. John foregoes attending the prestigious event in order to support his fiance, leading sister Victoria (Isabel Hodgins) and Tracy (Amy Walsh) to stage their own celebration for John in The Woolpack instead.

Mack isn’t happy when he learns that he’s missed out on the gathering—and watching John grow ever closer to his best mate Aaron only fuels his envy of their relationship. With bitterness simmering, he starts scheming while Matty watches on, thoroughly entertained by the brewing rivalry.

Later in the week, the stags gather outside the Hide ready to battle it out with a paintballing session in the woods. John cannot help but issue a chilling warning to Mack, but whilst initially uneasy, Mack isn’t put off his plan.

“If anything, it spurs him on,” Lawrence Robb tells us. “I don’t think anybody really knows how dangerous John is. And I think if Mackenzie did, he probably would tread more carefully!”

As the battle commences, Mack is determined to thwart John, and has a secret plan to do so. John soon spots Mack sneaking off somewhere, and heads off in pursuit.

“Everyone’s in camo gear, and Mackenzie sneaks off and changes,” Lawrence teases. “He then climbs out of the bushes with a ghillie suit, and I just looked like a big giant green yeti. It was also quite a hot day, I remember, so it was spicy under there!”

If the paintballing wasn’t enough, Mack manages to seal the deal by putting John further offside afterwards.

“Mackenzie’s had a few to drink,” Lawrence adds. “He pretty much says to John, ‘I see through you, and no one else does, but when they do, it’s all going to come tumbling down for you’. Then he walks off and John is then just left stewing on that.”

“Mackenzie is thinking that he’s won, kind of. It puts even more wind in Mackenzie’s sails, knowing that John used to be in the army, and Mackenzie outdid him in the paintballing.”

“I think that spurs him on, and that also, I guess, spurs John’s actions on, to try and get one back at Mackenzie…”

4) Harry is rushed to hospital!

It doesn’t take long for John to find a way to get his own back, as he puts Mack in the frame for a disastrous incident at the farm.

Moira is horrified to discover that there’s a serious leak with the slurry tank, and the finger is immediately pointed at Mack as being the one to blame, much to John’s delight.

But the mood shifts fast when Cain (Jeff Hordley) reveals the leak has contaminated the village’s main water supply.

The gravity of the situation hits hard when an ambulance is called out to the village—with Victoria’s young son Harry (Adam Pryor) rushed to hospital after drinking the tainted water!

5) Liam and Chas move in together

Elsewhere, the living arrangements at Tenant House are beginning to cause tension, leading Liam (Jonny McPherson) to make a drastic decision.

The household currently consists of Liam, married couple Paddy (Dominic Brunt) and Mandy (Lisa Riley), along with Paddy’s dad, Bear (Joshua Richards).

Next week, Liam walks into the cottage and is horrified to find Mandy in a very compromising situation. The red-faced doc quickly retreats, and is keen to avoid a repeat performance.

It seems Liam has found the perfect solution when he asks fiancee Chas (Lucy Pargeter) whether he can move in with her at The Woolpack. Chas agrees, but her doing so inadvertently kicks off another chain of events.

Bear is unhappy when he discovers that Liam has moved out, leaving him as a third-wheel in his son and daughter-in-law’s marital home. Paddy and Mandy are oblivious to Bear’s concerns, so are thrown when Chas later reveals to them that he may be feeling insecure about their living arrangement.

When Bear later returns home to find his things packed into boxes, panic sets in. Is this a not-too-subtle eviction notice, or have Paddy and Mandy got something else in mind?

6) Manpreet learns her fate

Mandy isn’t the only woman lingering on Liam’s mind at the moment, as he struggles to come to terms with colleague Manpreet’s (Rebecca Sarker) recent revelation. After Joe’s part in the attack on uncle Caleb (Will Ash) was revealed, which led to him stealing Caleb’s kidney, Manpreet was horrified to realise that she had been played.

Having started posting raunchy pics online, Manpreet found herself blackmailed by someone in the village who knew her secret. Unaware that he was in the fact the person targeting her, Manpreet accepted Joe’s offer to pay off the blackmailer, and it wasn’t long before he asked for something in return.

Claiming that he was worried about a hereditary heart condition, Joe asked Manpreet to get a vial of Caleb’s blood to have him tested also. Despite her reservations, Manpreet went ahead with collecting the sample when she gave Caleb a healthcheck.

It was this sample that Joe secretly sent off in order to find out if Caleb would be a suitable kidney donor.

Having confessed everything to Liam after learning of Joe’s actions, Manpreet is relieved when Liam agrees to not report her.

But whilst Manpreet’s job may be safe, for now at least, Liam’s confidence in her as both a friend and colleague seems to be at an all-time low following her recklessness.

Will Manpreet be able to regain Liam’s trust?