Tonight’s episode of Emmerdale (Monday, March 17) finally answered the question that everyone had been asking – what’s wrong with Joe Tate? As many had suspected, he’s suffering from massive organ failure and, as he spoke to his doctor, audiences learned that he has chronic kidney disease.

And that’s not the only thing the soap confirmed. As he spoke with Doctor Crowley, the pair casually talked of their part in the limo crash – drugging Noah and allowing him to wander free in the road. Oops.

Scheming Joe Tate revealed his next plan in Emmerdale tonight

As it turned out, Noah was a dead end, and Joe had started to look elsewhere for the life-saving organ transplant he needs. The doctor recommended Joe get himself abroad, where they could pay their way into getting him a new kidney.

Joe, however, had other plans. He’d found another potential donor – a blood relative, and not necessarily a willing one. Well, why ask when you’d have to risk them saying no? “This way they’ll never see me coming,” Joe schemed, as the episode ended.

Good news for Noah, but who exactly does Joe have in his sights?

Joe responsible for Caleb’s flash-forward?

The most likely prospect for a replacement kidney would be Caleb, who the soap revealed in 2022 is a Tate by blood. Joe’s father, Chris Tate, was Caleb’s half-brother – making him his uncle.

And, as this year’s flash-forward revealed, Caleb has a date with a hospital bed still to come. When this comes to pass, it could be with Caleb going under the knife as Joe tries to steal (?) his kidney.

But will Caleb survive – and how will Joe get him on the operating table in the first place?

Jamie returns as Joe’s organ donor?

Caleb and Noah aren’t the only surviving Tates Joe could choose from. There’s also his uncle – and Kim’s son – Jamie. Jamie left the Dales in 2021 after faking his own death, but fans have often hoped to see him return to the soap.

Will Joe seek out his uncle Jamie?