Emmerdale's Nicola Wheeler has revealed that her character Nicola King 'doesn't recover at all' after the funeral of her husband Jimmy King, who died following a car crash. The actress shared that Nicola continues to struggle with losing Jimmy for months after his farewell, describing it as 'not a quick fix'.
Jimmy's death and Sadie's return
Jimmy died after swerving his car to avoid hitting Vinny Dingle, who was on his phone while driving, and crashing into Joe Tate and Dawn Taylor's wedding marquee. In the aftermath, Sadie King returned to the village, claiming she had been in a secret relationship with Jimmy for three years and was back to pay her respects.
However, the story about Jimmy is false, and Sadie's real plan is to locate a large sum of cash that Jimmy hid before he died. Nicola, still believing the betrayal, faces the day of Jimmy's funeral next week amid the emotional ordeal.
Nicola's grief and mixed emotions
Wheeler explained that Nicola has mixed emotions in the lead-up to the funeral. 'She would preferably not go to the funeral but she realises she has to make it special for the children because they deserve to give their dad a good send off. But as far as Nicola is concerned she'd dig a big hole and dump him in it.'
The star added: 'Nicola is caught between a rock and a hard place. She has to be respectful to Jimmy and show she cares for the sake of the children but, apart from his death, it possibly is the worst day of her life.'
Support from Laurel and a difficult goodbye
Wheeler noted that Nicola is lucky to have Laurel, who has been through a similar experience, as a friend to help her on the journey of grief. She also mentioned that Nicola feels utterly betrayed, unable to express her love for Jimmy on the funeral day.
'There's some nice scenes with Charles encouraging her to write something kinder but she ends up writing something impersonal and doesn't want to speak,' Wheeler said. Nicola's future remains tied to Jimmy, as Wheeler concluded: 'He's part of her life all the time.'
