Emmerdale’s Joe Tate’s health appears to be deteriorating, as Noah Dingle has a flashback that could incriminate him for the limo crash disaster.

In tonight’s hour-long episode, the ITV soap hinted at Joe’s fate as he was on the phone with an unknown person. Joe was angrily telling them that their plan wasn’t as bulletproof as they thought and they needed to act quickly.

Unaware of Joe’s agenda, Dawn Fletcher happily carried on with their affair behind Billy’s back. At Home Farm, she propositioned Joe for later but sensed his mind was elsewhere.

Joe headed to the Woolpack before their rendezvous, finding Noah and Charity there.

Noah was struggling with his guilt over the crash. Joe tried to comfort him, saying the feeling that everyone was blaming him would only be temporary.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Joe drugged Noah, causing him to wander in a dizzy state and leaving Charity little choice but to steer the limo she was driving to avoid running her son over. The crash caused the deaths of Suzy Merton, Leyla Harding and Amy Barton.

As they were speaking at the pub, Noah had a flashback of that fateful night, seemingly recognising Joe’s voice in a hospital room.

“We’ve come this far. Just get it over with,” Joe told a doctor in the flashback.

Noah was taken aback, immediately quizzing Joe about it.

“Were you there? The night I were drugged?” Noah asked, but he couldn’t remember more details about the drugging.

Joe suggested that the drugs Noah had been injected with may have messed with his memory and that him repeating “Get it over with” might’ve triggered him.

After he left, Charity realised Joe knew Noah had been injected, though details of the drugging weren’t public. She confided in Ross Barton, who tailed Joe to get to the bottom of it.

Joe showed Ross his boarding pass for a flight to Brussels the day before Valentine’s, meaning he couldn’t have possibly harmed Noah as he was on his way back when the crash occurred.

At the cafe, Kim confronted Dawn about Joe, asking for her help to understand what he’s keeping from both of them. Dawn left a message on Joe’s voicemail, hinting that Kim suspected of their affair and they’d have to be extra careful.

Meanwhile in the barn, Joe looked visibly ill, but managed to talk his way out of Ross’s accusations. However, Ross decided to keep him tied up a bit longer, throwing his phone away and rushing out.

In the final scenes, Joe was able to push the door open and drag himself back to Home Farm, where he once again called his mystery accomplice.

“I’m on the brink, yeah,” Joe said before passing out on the stairs.

A man who looked eerily similar to the doctor in Noah’s visions entered the house, bringing Joe upstairs to treat him.

Dawn checked in on Joe once she was back, but he feigned a stomach bug to keep her away. Alone with the doctor, Joe said they needed to hurry.

“I’m not sure how much time I’ve got left,” he said.

This admission comes after fan theories have been pointing to Joe harnessing his blood relatives for organ donation given he’s seriously ill. Is this why he drugged Noah?