In Friday's (September 25) episode of Emmerdale, now available on ITVX and YouTube, Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) was forced to confront the possibility that her late husband Jimmy King (Nick Miles) had been living a double life, as Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) had claimed. However, Nicola only heard part of a voice note that appeared to back Sadie's lies, storming away before it revealed that Jimmy's loyalty always lay with her.
Sadie's scheme and Nicola's grief
Sadie, described as a master manipulator, has been lying about rekindling her romance with Jimmy. Her motive, as history suggests, is money – she and Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) are desperate to get their hands on the £150,000 in cash that Jimmy sold his haulage business for. Meanwhile, Nicola is wracked with grief.
In yesterday's episode, Nicola ensured that Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) was arrested after learning from him that his careless driving caused the car crash that claimed Jimmy's life. She also found herself in opposition to her best friend Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), who agreed to house her step-daughter Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) after she was expelled from Home Farm. Nicola saw this as a betrayal, as Gabby had called Vinny, distracting him and causing him to swerve onto the wrong side of the road, leading to the crash.
Carl's tribute and the voice notes
Today's episode saw Nicola convince Carl Holliday (Charlie Joyce) that Jimmy wasn't having an affair after children at school taunted him. Backed up by Elliot Windsor (Luca Hoyle), Nicola decided to tell them about Vinny's arrest. As they digested the news, Carl revealed his intention to create a video tribute for the funeral. Nicola's blood ran cold when she learned that Carl had found an abundance of voice notes on a messaging app, and she took the laptop away, chilled about what they might contain.
A distraction came in the form of Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley), who begged Nicola to put a word into court on Vinny's behalf, terrified of losing her son to prison. Nicola's fury gave way to grief, and she found herself wrapped in Mandy's arms. The two found an understanding, with parallels drawn between Vinny's situation and Angelica King's (Rebecca Bakes), but Nicola remained resolute – she needs justice.
Nicola's partial listen
Emotionally fraught, Nicola opened up to Mandy about the voice notes, with Mandy suggesting Nicola face up to what they could contain, just as Vinny is facing up to his fate. Nicola did listen, for a little bit, but only heard enough to back up Sadie's vicious lies, storming away before the rest of the voice note revealed that his loyalty always lay with Nicola.
