Viewers were absolutely devastated when Emmerdale declared Joe Tate (played by Ned Porteous) as dead following his altercation with Cain Dingle (Ned Porteous) in the midst of Kim’s (Claire King) dramatic return plot last October.
Joe had been determined to marry love-of-his-life Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) when Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) revealed he’d been ordered to kill him.
And while Joe refused to leave the village for his own safety, in the end he wasn’t accidentally killed by Cain as viewers thought – he was shipped off to Montecarlo by his godfather Graham.
Ever since it was revealed he was alive however, ITV fans have been begging producers to bring the tortured character back from his travels, especially now Kim seems to have settled back into her old life at Home Farm.
But if Joe returned, he would likely try and steal his family home back from his cold and manipulative step-mother.
It seems actress Claire thinks the same – and there could even be violence between the pair.
Speaking in a recent interview, the star teased: “I can’t see him coming back in the foreseeable future.
“But if he did come back and they saw each other I imagine it would be quite explosive, wouldn’t you?”
“Kim and Joe are cut from the same cloth,” she went on to tell The Sun Online. “And he was from the other side of the Tate family that Kim did not get on with.”
Joe’s disappearance from the Yorkshire Dales set in motion all sorts of drama for the Dingle family.
Utterly heartbroken, Debbie refused to forgive her father Cain when she discovered he’d apparently “killed” her fiance and the duo have been at odds for months.
Cain’s own mental health suffered at the possibility of killing a man – albeit accidental – and he began spiralling out of control.
Yet when there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel – Joe being alive – the news did little to assuage Debbie’s feelings of distrust against her father and Cain was forced to consider he would never get his first-born back.
All that changed this week after the death of Dingle matriarch and legendary Emmerdale character Lisa Dingle (Jane Cox).
Lisa had been battling terminal cancer for months in Scotland, and it was only when she was looking towards her last months did the mother-of-one return to the village.
Following her unexpected death on the day of her wedding to Zack Dingle (Steve Halliwell), the Dingle family rallied around to give Lisa a beautiful send-off and support her husband and daughter Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) in their time of need.
What’s more, the Dingles only realised after Lisa’s death she had written secret letters for them all.
Lydia (Karen Blick) was the only one who knew what Lisa’s last act was, and Lisa’s loved ones were equally upset and pleased with their private goodbyes.
Sadly Zack is still struggling so much he hasn’t even been able to open his letter yet.
