Emmerdale star Chris Coghill has responded to fan theories that his character Kev Townsend shares a spark with Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler), dismissing the idea as "classic playground flirting" while acknowledging the pair are growing closer.
Coghill on Kev and Nicola's dynamic
When Metro suggested viewers believe there is sexual tension between the sworn enemies, Coghill replied: "Are they now?" before protesting: "She's married to Jimmy [King]!"
However, with Jimmy set to die soon, the question remains whether something could develop between Kev and Nicola. Coghill said: "No. It's like classic playground flirting, isn't it? They just have a go at each other all the time. But they're getting closer. They're starting to appreciate each other a bit more."
In a previous interview with Metro, Coghill described their relationship as "funny," noting: "I think he likes the fact that she's protective of Lewis, which he does appreciate. But at the same time she doesn't want Kev there and there's a bit of him that does want to win her over. Especially after her trying to get rid of him. And to be fair, him parking the van right outside the cafe was quite an antagonistic thing to do."
Kev's sabotage plot against Jimmy
Meanwhile, Kev is set to make Jimmy's life harder by sabotaging his business on orders from Caleb and Ruby Miligan (William Ash and Beth Cordingly).
Coghill explained: "They enlist Kev to rob a delivery from the haulage firm, which sends the haulage firm into a spiral so Jimmy will agree to them buying it at a cheaper price. Ruby tells Kev there's a massive haul inside and he ends up with 3000 nappies, they use Kev to do it as blackmail for the Steve thing."
The actor also clarified an off-screen incident involving Kev and Billy, saying: "The fact is, after Claudette's elbowed Steve and told him to leave – all of this is off-screen which is why it's quite hard to get your head round – he heads up to the depot for one last job, and, like I said, none of this is seen on screen, and Kev follows him to stop him and Billy is just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Off-screen attack explained
"Kev thinks he's just given him a little love tap, just to stop him in his tracks, but it's a bit more serious than that," Coghill continued. "The whole thing with Kev attacking Billy is a little bit weird because it's never seen on screen in context or why it happened or when it happened. It has to be explained later."
He added: "It's on CCTV, which this [Caleb] uses to blackmail him. But yeah, it looks bad…He's bent over with a crowbar in a pool of blood."
