Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley) and Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle)’s marriage in Emmerdale is basically hanging on by a thread in upcoming episodes – but it’s not Billy who ends up breaking Dawn’s heart.

Dawn has been engaged in an ill-advised affair with Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) recently, her head having been turned by his oily charm and the novelty value of being with a man who isn’t constantly stressed about kids and/or money like poor Billy is.

Not that Billy is squeaky clean. With Dawn being distant with him recently Billy’s head has been turning in the direction of GP Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker), a woman who previously had a crush on him when he was her personal trainer. This led to a moment between the two recently when they almost kissed.

Billy, feeling guilty, confessed to his wife that he’d been messaging another woman online and he was surprised by how easily she forgave him. What he didn’t know, of course, was that Dawn had been up to much more than that with Joe.

Dawn apparently feels that her relationship with Joe is worth risking her marriage for, so in upcoming episodes she’s stunned when Joe – who is behaving in a very shifty manner – abruptly says their liaison is over.

Of course viewers know that Joe has more on his plate than his illicit affair with Dawn. There’s the little matter of being seriously ill and needing an urgent kidney transplant.

He’s determined to get the treatment he needs and has previously tried to trick Noah Dingle (Jack Downham) into giving up one of his kidneys. Since that failed, his current target is his uncle Caleb Miligan (William Ash), whose kidney is apparently a match.

In shocking scenes Joe gets one of his accomplices to stab Caleb and kidnap him, taking him to the private clinic where Dr Crowley (James Hillier) will carry out the surgery.

While this horrific scenario is playing out, as far as Dawn is concerned Joe has abandoned her – and she’s not a woman to take rejection without a fight.

Will she track him down? And how will she react when she discovers what his sinister agenda has been all along?