FOLLOWING her attack by a group of teenage girls, Nicola King struggles to get her life back on track.
Her behaviour spirals out of control this week in Emmerdale. Get the lowdown on all the drama.
1. Nicola gets into an accident
In upsetting scenes recently aired on ITV, Nicola King (portrayed by Nicola Wheeler) was beaten and mugged by a group of teenage girls.
Since then, the character has tried to get back to normal life in the Dales – but is slowly showing apparent symptoms of agoraphobia as her behaviour becomes dangerous and she attacks a friend.
This week, Nicola is left shaking when she hears a knock on the door and a shadow appears, convinced for a split second this could be her attackers.
But after hiding her pain, she’s relieved to see it’s her sister Bernice (played by Samantha Giles).
Read more on Emmerdale
Bernice wants nothing more than to help Nicola and, to keep her stimulated, suggests she makes the pitch for the Green Initiative with her to the council.
She eventually leaves with their row being a part of the past but Nicola is left alone, feeling like a prisoner in her own home.
Terrified, Nicola later tries to keep her father Rodney (Patrick Mower) from leaving and pleads with Bernice to come over and help with the presentation.
When she realises she’s the only one available to pick the kids up from school, Nicola panics again but tries her best to make her way to the car.
Sadly, she’s only reminded of her attack even more as, minutes prior, she’d been walking over to her vehicle.
An overwhelmed Nicola slams on the accelerator and accidentally collides with David Metcalfe’s van.
David then confronts her and demands to have her insurance details but Nicola stumbles before rushing back inside and bolting the door.
2. … And suffers a breakdown
But the owner of David’s Shop won’t be the only one to be impacted by Nicola’s deteriorating mental health.
As mentioned above, the co-owner of Café Main Street is mortified by the prospect of being left alone at home.
This leads to her turning to desperate measures to keep someone at her side at all times – and her son Carl becomes her main target.
Nicola latches on to the idea of exaggerating his illness, despite his demands to go back to school.
Carl is unconvinced as to why he needs to stay at home while Elliot and Angel are rushed off to school.
The seven-year-old can’t help Nicola avoid a panic attack, although she manages to snap herself out of it.
Unfortunately, the little boy’s behaviour becomes impossible to handle for Nicola as she searches for chocolate to placate him.
Carl gets a hold of his mother’s phone and darts outside, leaving her with the impossible choice between going outside to chase him or staying in.
Her fear of the outside world only grows and Nicola enters full panic mode when she hears some girls laughing outside.
Convinced her attackers have come to find her, she braces for the fights or her life – and hits somebody over the head.
Who else will Nicola hurt?
Will she get the help she needs?
3. David’s money woes continue
Meanwhile, David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden) decides to take advantage of his minor collision with Nicola.
In recent weeks, the shop owner has desperately tried to keep his money issues under wraps from his partner Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins).
Understanding that the shop bearing his name isn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, David resorts to unlawful measures to get his hands on some spare cash.
This week, Victoria is excited by the idea of an expensive wedding, David has the idea of feigning a neck injury to the insurance company.
He’s then pleased to see Victoria buying into his lie but Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop) soon calls him out for taking out the claim against a vulnerable Nicola.
Take A Vow wedding planner Priya Sharma (Fiona Wade) makes matters go from bad to worse when she then informs a concerned Victoria about David missing out on some payments.
Will Victoria find out the truth?
4. Chas and Al embark on an affair
After finding out her mother Faith is battling breast cancer amid an explosive announcement in The Woolpack, Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) has found the support she needed.
But her husband Paddy isn’t the one to be present as businessman Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) was the first one to step up and help her.
However, their budding friendship led to more and the pair begin an affair this week.
Chas first begins to feel like her life is spiralling out of control, turning to Al for comfort once again.
The two share a kiss and Chas soon suggests they book a hotel room, only to retract when Faith struggles with her chemo and collapses the following day.
Feeling guilty, Chas cuts ties with Al and, to overcompensate, jumps on board with Faith’s idea for a party to celebrate Paddy’s birthday.
But when Kerry Wyatt (Laura Norton) and Al bump into Chas and Paddy, the unspoken tension is clear.
5. Charity makes a shock discovery
The tension grows behind closed doors when Al later admits he was jealous of seeing Chas with Paddy.
However, a defiant Chas responds by denying her feelings.
The following day, Chas endures an immensely awkward situation and tries to act normal when Kerry recounts her night with Al.
With all of their insecurities triggered and their jealousy reaching an all-time high, both Chas and Al express themselves over the other’s relationship during an explosive clash on Main Street.
Unbeknownst to them, Chas’ cousin Charity (Emma Atkins) is watching on.
Charity has been unfaithful to her own partner in the past – could this mean she knows what’s going on between Chas and Al?
6. Leyla rejects Liam
Elsewhere, Leyla Cavanagh (Roxy Shahidi) is still overwhelmed by her cocaine addiction – and her husband Liam (Jonny McPherson) pays the price.
Sick and tired of him banging on about babies this week, Leyla holds the village GP at arm’s length, cruelly rejecting him.
She later dismisses the idea of getting healthy as she secretly recovers from taking cocaine from the night before.
Leyla is tempted to have more drugs and fails at talking herself down from getting any cocaine.
Will she ever overcome her addiction?
