John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth)’s campaign against his brother and love-rival Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) reaches a critical point in upcoming Emmerdale episodes as he seeks to turn everyone in the village against Robert.
Robert is, of course, Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller)’s first husband and many fans would say he will always be Aaron’s true love.
‘Robron,’ as the couple were affectionately known to fans, were torn apart in 2019 when Robert was sent to prison for the manslaughter of the man who raped his sister Victoria (Isabel Hodgins).
In a surprise twist he reappeared in the village on a particularly auspicious day – the day Aaron was about to marry John – who happens to be half-brother to Robert and Victoria.
Reunited, it was obvious there was still huge chemistry between Robert and Aaron and they kissed. Ultimately Aaron chose John, and went through with the wedding. It does seem that there’s unfinished business between Robert and Aaron, though, and this infuriates John.
Since then, he’s taken every opportunity to try to goad Robert, even getting his rival worked up to such a pitch that he smacked John over the head with a wrench – an incident that John has footage of.
In recent episodes John managed to wind Robert up by poisoning the mind of his nephew Harry against Uncle Robert. When Robert lost his temper at Harry’s drumming while he was looking after him, Harry was left terrified. And John was on hand to look like the good guy and be a reassuring person for Harry to cling to.
Adding a bit more fuel to the fire, John exaggerates what happened when he tells Victoria about the incident. This is the last straw as far as she’s concerned and she’s finally had enough of Robert.
John’s next move is to make sure Robert is fully aware of how upset Victoria is. He gloats that Robert has lost both Victoria and Aaron.
This leaves Robert in absolute despair. At his lowest point, he smashes up his room. This commotion is overheard by Aaron, who stops Robert’s rampage and calms him down. Robert tells him he knows he’s messed up and he’s lost everything, including Aaron. He’s surprised by Aaron’s response.
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He says the reason he’s been keeping away is that he’s feeling conflicted himself. Although he’s with John, he has feelings for Robert that won’t go away so his only option has been to avoid him.
With Aaron’s confession out in the open, the two give in to their mutual passion and end up sleeping together.
Obviously this is the exact opposite of what John wanted and potentially puts both of them in danger if he should find out. And that’s a real possibility as, lying in bed together, they hear Victoria and John outside talking about how they should check in on Robert.
Awkward. And quite possibly deadly.
