Emmerdale’s latest killer John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) really is a tortured soul, isn’t he? Unlike your average psychopath he doesn’t get any pleasure from killing.
In fact what he’d rather do would be to save lives all day long and bask in the admiration of others. Unfortunately, with one mess rapidly leading to another, he’s ended up having blood on his hands on numerous occasions – and he’s about to add another victim to the list.
Since the body of Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) was found in the lake, John has been pained to see various villagers accusing each other of Nate’s murder, because he knows he was the one responsible after accidentally killing Nate while trying to save his life after the barn fire.
Nate’s widow, Tracy (Amy Walsh), immediately blamed Cain (Jeff Hordley), who had beaten his son up shortly before Nate disappeared because he thought something was going on between him and Moira (Natalie J Robb).
Cain blamed Tracy, and this seemed to have been confirmed when Nate’s phone was found at Tracy’s house, having been used during Nate’s absence when Cain thought he was ringing his son. John had had the phone all along and planted it at Tracy’s.
As Nate’s funeral looms in coming episodes, John is wracked with guilt that the two people who loved Nate the most are being torn apart by accusations and recriminations.
So when an opportunity presents itself to put someone altogether different in the frame for the murder, John decides he can fix things, John style. By killing someone else.
He’s surprised when a man called Owen comes for an appointment with him at the surgery, because Owen is none other than the man John caught spiking Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley)’s drink. He throws Owen out of the surgery and this is witnessed by Robert, who thanks him for standing up for him – though Robert is still obviously wary of John generally.
Later, Liam (Jonny McPherson) makes a house call to Owen, but he can’t get an answer. Concerned for his patient’s wellbeing, he calls the police, who break into the house and find Owen dead.
And on the dead man’s laptop is a written confession, saying that Owen was responsible for murdering Nate Robinson.
