Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) has a list of enemies as long as his arm in Emmerdale, and one of them is about to get their revenge.

For a large portion of this year, Joe attempted to make his plan of illegally getting his hands on a new kidney a success. The victim was Caleb Miligan (William Ash), his uncle. He was stabbed by someone and then taken to Joe’s dodgy doctor mate, who then performed the operation and ran away after being paid.

Aside from this plot, Joe also started having an affair with Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley). When it first began, they were both in agreement that it was just for sex and a distraction, nothing else.

However, the two characters then developed feelings for each other and decided they would try and see if a relationship could work long-term.

Home Farm is the location of Lydia’s (Karen Blick) birthday party in upcoming episodes, and everyone is invited.

Due to the fact the place is full of people who aren’t exactly keen on Joe, the atmosphere is tense. There’s Billy (Jay Kontzle), who knows about Joe sleeping with Dawn by this point, Caleb, Cain (Jeff Hordley)…put simply, the majority of the Emmerdale village would be more than happy to see the back of him.

‘Somebody’s always got it in for Joe, he doesn’t have the easiest life!’, Ned Porteous told us recently, reflecting on these upcoming scenes involving his character.

‘But then he kind of asks for it, I suppose. I think there’s a more tactful way to go around doing what he has to do. He’s put in quite tricky positions and you have to find a reason for motivating your character for what he’s doing.’

Pondering over whether Joe will attempt revenge on the person who attacks him, Ned said:

‘I’m sure he will. There will be some sort of vengeance. It’s not a nice thing to be pushed out of a window so I’m sure he’s quite miffed about that.’

‘It was a fun day and handled very well’, he said, remembering what it was like to film this part of the story.

‘It could’ve been a stressful environment on set but it was just lovely when you get to act with other people on the show, especially when you’re up here at Home Farm, you feel quite secular in your work environment.

‘There’s a multitude of super talented people on the show so it’s super fun for me to work with them every now and again. It’s a little bit daunting – all eyes on you.’

Joe actually committing to a relationship with Dawn certainly took us all by surprise. This is a character who doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘loyalty’ but as Ned explains, Joe’s Achilles heel is always going to be catching the feels.

‘I think in his own weird Joe Tate way, yeah’, he said, confirming Joe probably does love Dawn.

‘I don’t think he understands those feelings. I like to think, personally, that he does. That’s a driving force I like to bring into the scenes with Liv Bromley.

‘It’s an extremely vulnerable moment for him, opening up to someone.’

Also revealing what’s to come for this narrative, producer Laura Shaw told us: ‘When Joe arrived in the show he already had quite a few enemies, but what we’ll see in the run-up is that he’s managed to accrue quite a few more. By the time we get to this episode, that list has grown, and grown, and grown.

‘I can tell you that one person will get their revenge on Joe Tate. But will they succeed in their murderous act?

‘We did a brilliant story – and I’ve been here that long that I script edited it, which was the ‘Who killed Tom King?’ story in 2006. There’s going to be a little bit of a homage in it as die-hard fans will notice. A couple of Easter Eggs.’