Emmerdale fans have branded yesterday’s episode of the ITV soap the best of the year so far.
The instalment was set at Home Farm, and focused solely on Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough), Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) and Kim Tate (Claire King).
The day before, Graham decided to return to the Tate household to reveal his resurrection to Kim and Joe for the first time.
The scenes were incredibly powerful and were praised a lot, with the most moving and emotional ones coming from Joe. They saw him become overwhelmed with grief, anger and upset as he wondered why the man he thought of as a father played dead for six years.
Once he got over the fact he definitely wasn’t seeing a ghost, Joe broke down as he recalled the moment he learnt about Graham’s ‘death’, and the horror that followed after. He said that in the initial aftermath, he had never felt so alone.
The grief sent Joe on a downward spiral. He stopped eating and sleeping, and could only manage to shove drugs into his system.
His health got so bad as a result of the drugs, he had to get a kidney transplant, which eventually took him back to Emmerdale in December 2024.
Graham had no idea about any of this and apologised profusely to Joe, but his words weren’t ever going to be enough.
It was Kim who managed to work out that Graham was in the village for Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry), which broke Joe’s heart even more as he was under the impression Graham had returned for him.
Joe didn’t have any idea that Graham was in the village a couple of days prior to the Corriedale crash taking place, as he was busy helping Rhona with protecting her family from Ray Walters (Joe Absolom).
The episode itself ended with Joe calling the police on Graham, who instructed him to go to the station for questioning.
It’s safe to say fans were fully aware of the bonkers twists happening as two characters reeled over someone returning from the dead. It was classic soap in that sense – and that’s what made it even more perfect.
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Oh btw, friendly reminder Joe faked his own death as well…
Over on our Metro Soaps Facebook page, audience members shared their thoughts on the episode.
Joan Hosang said ‘Great episode’, while June Sheila Gildersleve wrote: ‘That was brilliant last night when Graham walk into Kims , Joe and Kim face love it.’
Luke Everson summed things up perfectly and said: ‘Best Emmerdale episode in a while the acting was superb.’
Praising stars Ned, Claire and Graham, Betsy-Rose wrote on social media platform X: ‘Loved tonight’s episode. Joe had me in tears. I’m so glad they are back together.’
Another shared in agreement: ‘Impressive performance from all 3 in tonight’s Emmerdale 3 hander episode. Ned Porteous/Joe was excellent’.
Thomas Robins added: ‘Tonight was the first episode I’ve watched in 2 years & I loved it. Graham, Kim & Joe were absolutely powerhouses, the sneer remarks between Kim & Graham were brilliant, Joe showing his vulnerability was good to see. Very enjoyable, apart from the irritating music. #Emmerdale.’
‘Well, I think if Kim Tate can forgive Joe for harvesting an organ she can forgive Graham for coming back from the dead’, star Andrew Scarborough said.
‘And if he helps matters by proving himself by fixing some things for them, they will appreciate his skills and his loyalty. But it might take some months.’
