In next week’s Emmerdale spoilers the walls are closing in on Joe as he’s taken hostage by Ross. Trapped and alone in a barn, his mysterious health condition takes a sudden turn for the worse. Is this the end for Joe?

Emmerdale spoilers: Time is running out for sick Joe

Joe is a very poorly man, that much is clear. But the nature of his illness remains something of a mystery.

He’s already collapsed on several occasions and requires medication on a regular basis. Recently Dawn discovered Joe passed out in his car with a bottle of pills by his side. She swallowed Joe’s story about a painkiller addiction, but it’s likely his dependence on drugs is down to something else. Fans have been speculating Joe is in organ failure and on the hunt for a suitable donor.

All of this ties in very nicely with Joe’s desperation to get Noah out of the country. He was livid when his brother turned down the job offer in Dubai and it doesn’t take a brainiac to work out who was behind Noah’s recent drugging episode.

Joe has managed to get away with it so far, but for how much longer? Suspicious Kim has bugged his bedroom and instructed Lydia to follow his every move. And now Noah has begun having flashbacks to the night of his spiking. Is the truth Joe’s illness about to be exposed?

Ross attacks Joe

Tensions flare when Joe encounters Ross outside the HOP. There’s no love lost between Joe and Ross, who share a long and complicated history. Their most recent encounter saw Ross putting the frighteners on Joe in an attempt to get him to stay away from Noah.

It seems Ross is up for gunning for another fight, but then Joe is suddenly overcome by a dizzy spell.

Unaware of his fragile health, Ross is convinced Joe is putting it all on. He grabs hold of his foe and pins him up against a wall before issuing a menacing threat. And when Joe refuses to back down, Ross decides it’s time to teach the toff a lesson.

Joe is in peril in Emmerdale spoilers

Having dragged Joe to a nearby barn, Ross continues to torture him.

He walks away, leaving Joe trapped inside the deserted building. Alone and unwell, Joe’s condition rapidly begins to deteriorate, but there’s no one around to hear his calls for help.

Will Ross – or anyone else – come to his rescue and get him to a hospital in time? Or is Joe going to be left to experience a lonely and painful death?