7 Emmerdale Spoilers for Next Week – 29th March to 3rd April

Next week on Emmerdale, the Dingles turn on each other when Kim is poisoned, Jacob confronts Dr Todd, and Paddy turns to Marlon for help in a special two-hander episode.

Note: Emmerdale will be airing an episode on Sunday 29th March, with no episode on Tuesday 31st March.

1) Joe destroys Holly’s memorial

Relations between the Tates and the Dingles deteriorate even further next week, after a despicable act from Joe (Ned Porteous) brings heartache to Wishing Well Cottage.

Moira (Natalie J Robb) recently invited Kim (Claire King) to visit her in prison, reluctantly offering to finally sell her share of Butlers Farm to the Tates, thereby giving them full ownership.

Kim was sympathetic to Moira’s situation, and urged her to concentrate on her family at such a difficult time, without the financial worry of the farm. Moira tearfully pointed out that late daughter Holly (Sophie Powles) is buried at the edge of one of the fields, and Kim assured her that the family would always have access to her grave.

However, Kim hadn’t factored Joe into her promise. Joe is feeling particularly bitter towards the Dingles following this week’s escapades, which saw the family distract him and Kim in order to steal and sell their herd of cattle, to provide funding for their own new farming venture.

Robert (Ryan Hawley) and Aaron (Danny Miller) had planned for the livestock to be their main source of income, after taking on the tenancy of the newly christened Emmerdale Farm, only for Joe to reveal that they weren’t included in the lease and he was planning to sell them.

Whilst Chas (Lucy Pargeter) plied Kim with drink at The Woolpack, Charity (Emma Atkins) intercepted Joe by pretending to go into labour at the side of the road. The hold up enabled Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) to offload the cattle onto a contact, and the Dingles went on to split the proceeds with a clueless Robert and Aaron.

Although the Dingles were clearly taunting Kim and Joe as Belle returned to the pub with the now empty cattle truck, nothing could be proven, leaving both Kim and Joe seething.

On Sunday, Joe takes revenge in a particularly cruel way, as he orders some workmen to demolish everything in one of the fields—including Holly’s memorial.

2) Who poisoned Kim?

When Joe’s handiwork is discovered, Kim’s quick to realise that she needs to build some bridges and accepts an invite from Lydia (Karen Blick) to join the Dingles for dinner and talk things over.

Graham (Andrew Scarborough) has his doubts about the visit, but Kim presses ahead, with Lydia determined that the evening will help smooth things over.

Despite a rocky start, things appear to settle, and it seems the two families may be able to put some of their recent hostilities aside.

But all that changes when, shortly after they finish eating, Kim starts to choke before suddenly collapsing!

Liam (Jonny McPherson) and Sam (James Hooton) rush Kim to the hospital, but as the Dingles reconvene that evening, there’s unease as they eye each other up, wondering if one of them was responsible for what happened.

At the hospital, Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) relays Dr Todd’s (Caroline Harker) theory that Kim may be suffering from mushroom poisoning, leaving Graham to voice his suspicions of foul play.

The following day, the Dingles gather in the back room of The Woolpack. With nerves already frayed as fingers are pointed, it doesn’t take long for Cain and Caleb (Will Ash) to clash.

When Graham arrives with the news that mushrooms are believed to be responsible, all eyes fall on Sam, who had foraged the mushrooms for Lydia’s vol-au-vents. But Sam’s quick to point out that it was Cain (Jeff Hordley) who had told him where to find them, and believes he’s more than capable of trying to off Kim!

Meanwhile, Kim has other ideas. When Joe arrives at the hospital, Kim accuses him of putting on crocodile tears, knowing how annoyed he’s been after learning Kim has bequeathed Home Farm to Lydia in her will.

As an annoyed Joe protests his innocence, Kim is left more uncertain than ever over who she can trust!

3) Will Cain say goodbye to his granddaughter?

Elsewhere in the village, Tracy (Amy Walsh) is gearing up to leave the village with daughter Frankie (Eden Ratcliffe-Knights) following a difficult year. Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick) was stunned when Billy (Jay Kontzle) inadvertently revealed to her that Tracy had requested his help with moving house, and after confronting her sister, Tracy admitted that she was looking for a fresh start.

Former mother-in-law Cara (Carryl Thomas) has lined Tracy up with a job at her new recruitment business, as well as a place to live, and Tracy thought it would be good for Frankie to be able to spend some more time with her nan.

As Tracy tried to explain to Cain that she and Frankie were leaving, he was otherwise distracted by the cattle rustle. Tracy hoped that he would come and say goodbye to his granddaughter before they departed, but it was uncertain whether Cain was fully listening.

On Sunday, as Tracy and Frankie pack up the last of their things and bid farewell to Vanessa, Cain is nowhere to be seen.

With the Dingles dealing with the fallout of the news of Holly’s grave, will he make it in time to say goodbye to Frankie?

4) Paddy’s return to work ends in disaster

Over at the vets, Paddy (Dominic Brunt) attempts to return to work, hoping the distraction will help take his mind off everything that’s been going on.

Still suspended as he awaits trial, he’s only permitted to handle admin duties on reception, with Rhona (Zoe Henry) making it clear he’s not to get involved in treating any animals. However, when a desperate client arrives with a cat in need of help, Paddy feels he has no option but to step in.

His attempt to assist quickly backfires when he makes a serious mistake. Both Vanessa and Rhona are fuming as they’re forced to step in and reprimand a devastated Paddy for overstepping the mark.

5) Dylan’s place in the family is cemented

Later in the week, reality hits home for Paddy and Dylan (Fred Kettle) when a letter arrives revealing the date of their court appearance. Paddy does his best to keep Dylan’s spirits up, suggesting they take a break from everything and do something to lift the mood.

As the family gather in The Woolpack, Mandy (Lisa Riley), Chas and Paddy look on proudly when Eve (Bella James) presents Dylan with a drawing of the family, with him included—making it clear how much he now means to them.

Having felt constant guilt over bringing Ray (Joe Absolom) into everyone’s lives in the first place, Dylan is touched by the family’s ongoing support, and relays his gratitude to Paddy.

6) Paddy turns to Marlon as he reaches breaking point

But whilst worrying for Bear (Joshua Richards) and Dylan, Paddy’s own mental health has been quietly spiralling. 

It’s been three years since Paddy hit rock bottom in the wake of his split from Chas and considered taking his own life. Heading to the vets, Paddy takes a long look at the bolt gun that he had been planning on using, until Marlon (Mark Charnock) talked him out of it.

As he flashes back to that day, Paddy panics and quickly exits the vets. He heads straight next door and frantically knocks on Marlon’s door. When Marlon answers, a distressed Paddy immediately embraces him.

“Marlon knows the body language is terrible,” Mark Charnock recently told EverySoap and other press. “He looks like a ghost of the person Marlon’s seen earlier, so he knows immediately that something is very deeply amiss.”

The scene leads into a special two-hander episode between Paddy and Marlon on Friday

As Paddy opens up about the looming court case and his fears about going to prison, Marlon recognises that his friend has been struggling more than he’s letting on, and does his best to reassure him.

“Marlon can only address it up to a point,” Mark explains. “I think the best thing he can do is say, ‘What you’re talking about isn’t an actuality—it’s only a possibility… you’re catastrophising.’ But I don’t think there is much you can say in that scenario that’s going to make any human being feel better, no matter how much you know them.”

With no easy answers, Marlon instead looks for a distraction to try and ground Paddy.

“The first port of call is, ‘Oh My God. They’re Zombies!’ the video game, which, whilst Marlon really enjoys it, doesn’t really work for Paddy,” Mark continues.

“So Marlon has this idea to sort of make it real. He says, ‘Let’s go and smash things up at Ray and Celia’s. So they, like you do, take a pair of sledgehammers, and they go there and vent their rage!”

Whilst Paddy initially finds the release he needs, Marlon soon discovers he’s not as unaffected as he thought.

“Marlon goes to another place, and everything that he’s been through with April, all the trauma, everything that he’s felt unable to do during his family’s suffering comes out,” Mark explains. “He just loses control completely, and Paddy really has to talk him down.”

“We were really excited, we’ve never had a two hander before. The script was brilliant, by Peter Kerry, and we had Reece Dinsdale as director.”

“What I loved was that while you sometimes get these big plot or emotional upheaval episodes, this was really just about two beta males that are both on the edge being there for each other. It’s quite simple in that way. It’s not a great plot twisty thing—it’s just two men that the audience have seen grow into middle age together.”

“I’m really chuffed that the show’s doing this, because the turnover of stories in soaps is so fast,” Mark adds. “With a story like this that’s so common and so crucial, revisiting it shows that no matter how well people are—even after the upheaval Paddy went through—it’s still there. He’s still incredibly vulnerable.”

7) Jacob confronts Dr Todd

Also next week, Jacob’s troubles at the hospital continue.

In recent weeks, he’s struggled under the pressure of Dr Todd’s mentorship, with her constant criticism making his placement increasingly difficult.

Matters escalate further when Jacob and fellow trainee Rich (Joshua John) witness Dr Todd manhandling an elderly patient and shouting at him, leaving him shaken.

Despite the risk of how she might react, Jacob decides to speak up.

But will it only make things worse with his already intimidating boss?