Things take a turn for Emmerdale’s Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell)

as his latest get-rich-quick scheme backfires dramatically.

The nightmare came about after Pollard proposed to Brenda then

popped to an auction to buy her a ring, where he met some friends who were ‘doing well financially’. This made him begin thinking about his own monetary affairs. He told Brenda that if his new financial ventures paid off, they could take a trip to Canada to see her family.

Eric is forced to break big news to Brenda (Picture: ITV)

With the carrot sufficiently dangled, and with Pollard’s own savings already tied up in his plan, he then pilfered all of Brenda’s life savings and used them to buy cryptocurrency.

But it is not going well, and Pollard is playing a dangerous game. It becomes evident to him that something is not right when he realises the uplift is not being reflected in his account.

Having drained Brenda’s account, he’s on borrowed time to replace the money before she notices. But he’s not been clever about it and she’s close to finding out the truth.

When she finds her dream wedding dress she excitedly goes to pay, only to find there’s no money in her account. Pollard tries to convince her it’s a glitch with her banking app, but now that his troubles are worsening, he does what he does best – gets desperate and stupid.

Liam (Jonny McPherson) is worried to find him preparing to be reckless with the shop’s money. Eric wants to place a bet on a horse, believing he can win back all of their money, but Liam is adamant he won’t let him, he knows his illness is playing a part in this crazy behaviour. When Liam gets nowhere with a determined pollard, he gets drastic and blocks Eric’s exit. Eric can’t make a terrible financial mistake if he can’t even get there.

But for Pollard, this move is devastating. Everything around him is crumbling. Unable to make the money back, he knows he’s heading home to be on the receiving end of Brenda’s wrath.

Resigned to his fate, he returns home, where he is confronted. He’s devastated when she confronts him over whether his proposal was real, wondering if it was affected by his medication.

He’s left desperately trying to convince her that he meant it when he proposed. But there’s a bombshell for poor Brenda – she discovers his medication may have had a hand in his spontaneous decision.

In light of this news, Brenda is left questioning everything. With Lesley Dunlop allegedly set to leave, could her exit be down to a painful breakup?