FOR several weeks, Nicola King has tried to get her life back on track after being brutally beaten and mugged.
But the Café Main Street co-owner gets a shock when she spots one of her attackers in Emmerdale. Get the lowdown.
Nicola King recognises a newcomer in the village as one of her attackers
Naomi Anderson is trying to start afresh in the Dales with her father’s support
She event connects with Nate Robinson
But was she really involved in Nicola’s attack
1. Nicola finds her attacker
Traumatised by the assault, Nicola (portrayed by actress Nicola Wheeler) took some time before finding her strength again.
After suffering from anxiety and symptoms similar to those of agoraphobia, as she was terrified of stepping out of her home, she was finally able to talk about her attack to the authorities.
This week, however, Nicola is horrified to notice one of her attackers is a lot closer than she anticipated as she hires Charles Anderson’s long-lost daughter Naomi (played by Karene Peter) in the Café.
Nicola is spooked when she welcomes her new employee as she recognises her voice and trainers from the day of her attack.
Emmerdale fans had predicted the vicar’s daughter may be up to no good when she was first seen on their screens.
Since then, Naomi has agreed to give her long-lost father a chance by remaining in the eponymous village, although tensions are clear between her and Manpreet who was convinced she’d walk in Meena Jutla’s footsteps.
Naomi will be finding her mark in the eponymous village this week and even find a potential love interest in the form of hunky Nate Robinson.
But will her father Charles regret putting in a good word for her at the Café once Nicola reveals Naomi could have been one of her attackers?
Sandra Flaherty toys with Liv and Vinny’s marriage
2. Sandra sinks to a new low
Elsewhere in the village, Sandra Flaherty (Joanne Mitchell) stop at nothing to try and get her daughter Liv’s (Isobel Steele) money.
This also involves trying to push Liv’s husband Vinny (Bradley Johnson) away from her and using Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) as a pawn.
Coming up, Sandra continues to plant seeds of doubt in Liv’s mind and pushes Vinny and Gabby closer.
But when Liv shows no signs of jealousy when faced with her husband’s banter with Gabby, Sandra is irked and takes things even further.
To do so, she decides to turn her sights on to Vinny, hoping she can get him to crack.
Soon enough, she tries to ply Vinny and Gabby with drinks and the former is embarrassed when his mother-in-law goes into detail about her love life.
Sandra feigns ignorance towards Liv’s asexuality and continues to push her agenda.
Will Vinny fall for it?
Dan Spencer has caught feelings for Harriet Finch – are they reciprocated?
3. Dan makes a move on Harriet
Love could also be in the air for two Emmerdale residents.
Local mechanic Dan Spencer (Liam Fox) recently tried to make his feelings clear to the policewoman (Katherine Dow Blyton) by asking her out for a drink.
But he was left feeling deflated when she was clearly oblivious to him.
Dan moves back into Dale Head after being kicked out of the home by Kim Tate and Gabby Thomas.
While this means he no longer has to rely on the former vicar to have a roof over his head, he is a little sad to be moving out of her house.
Meanwhile, Harriet is stunned when Dan instinctively goes to kiss her, unable to hold back.
She finally realises he likes but feels awkward about it.
Dan leaves, kicking himself and fearing he may have wrecked what could have been a good friendship.
However, Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) could save the day when she tells Harriet she could do a lot worse than Dan, leaving the PC to see him in a different light.
But Dan has a lot more on his plate than a budding romance with Harriet.
Amelia Spencer is planning to run away from her problems
4. Amelia flees the village
Amelia Spencer wasn’t able to keep her pregnancy a secret for very long as it all came to light when Harriet spotted her kissing Noah Dingle (Jack Downham).
The future teen mum (Daisy Campbell) is overwhelmed this week and comes up with a plan to do a runner.
Coming up, Amelia is warmed by Noah’s support and she’s over the moon when their relationship becomes official.
But while the troubled youngster is at peace with Dan’s hostility towards him, Amelia is less than ready to go with the flow.
Instead, she asks him to leave the village and run away with her to London.
Amelia is devastated when Noah makes it clear he won’t follow her, perhaps due to his family needing to stick together as Faith Dingle is preparing herself for death.
However, again, Noah is hellbent on supporting Amelia through her pregnancy.
In later scenes, local vicar Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin) approaches Dan and informs him he’s overheard Amelia is planning to leave.
Dan pales and is panicked she has already left when he spots a bus pulling away from the village.
Can he catch up with Amelia?
Will Chas Dingle’s affair with Al Chapman ever be exposed for all to gossip about?
5. Chas makes a decision about her affair
Speaking of love in the Yorkshire Dales, Chas Dingle makes an important decision which could build up to some more turmoil in her love life.
One thing is certain, getting caught by Belle Dingle won’t be enough to stop her from doing as she pleases, despite her remorse.
Chas is ridden with guilt when Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) approaches her in the eponymous village and hands her two burner phones as confirmation their affair is back on.
The Woolpack manager portrayed by Lucy Pargeter has been sneaking around with the scheming businessman for several weeks after learning her mother was battling cancer.
She first decided to take a step back from Al after almost being caught by his partner, Kerry Wyatt.
But, as viewers will see, the illicit lovers can’t stay away from each other.
What’s in store for them?
Charity Dingle is still recovering from her ectopic pregnancy
6. Another baby for Charity?
Over on the other side of the Dingle family, Charity (Emma Atkins) is still trying to overcome the trauma of her ectopic pregnancy.
But according to Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb), another baby could and should still be a part of their plans for the future.
This leads to some heavy disagreement between the two, who haven’t had the easiest of relationships.
This week, Mack struggles to find a way to tell Charity how he feels about having children and decides to take her to a wellness retreat.
While there, their foray into meditation is a disaster as they laugh when they ditch the session.
The pair then kiss but Charity is worried that they haven’t been intimate since they lost their baby.
Mack sees this as an opportunity to tell her he wants to try for another baby but when Charity storms off, he knows he’s made a mistake.
Later on, Charity calls him out for being insensitive and wanting to try for another baby so soon after her ectopic pregnancy and she drops a bombshell on him – having a baby is off the table.
However, Mackenzie refuses to give up on the idea.
Mackenzie makes a huge mistake this week
7. Mackenzie beds another woman
It looks like the pair are set for some more relationship drama this week on the ITV soap.
Mackenzie and Charity are unable to settle their differences about babies.
Charity goes a step further and tells her other half that if he wants a baby, it’ll have to be with another woman and urges him to scatter his seed somewhere else.
But when she opens up to his sister Moira, Charity has a change of heart and is intent on fixing things with Mack.
Little does she know that Mackenzie is actually following her advice and will be spotted in bed with another woman.
Who could it be?
Could this be the hurdle they can’t jump through?
Emmerdale airs weeknights from 7.30pm on ITV.
