Emmerdale’s Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) was caught up in the Corriedale drama last night due to reluctantly giving Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) a lift to try and find Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller).

Prior to this, Robert had been knocked out by Aaron. It was all part of his plan to trick John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) into thinking that he wanted to be with him. As soon as Aaron and John got to the car, Aaron grabbed the shotgun and told John to drive to the police station.

Down a main road, John took his hands off the wheel and told Aaron to control where they go. This was his way of showing Aaron how good he thinks it feels to have someone’s life in your hands. The duo ended up crashing, right into the car that had the Swains from Coronation Street inside.

As soon as Robert woke up, he staggered outside and called for help. He bumped into a concerned Joe Tate, who decided to do as Robert asked.

They soon arrived at the scene of the crash and ran to try and help those injured. Just as they did, the minibus exploded, which killed Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank).

The explosion sent Joe to the ground and knocked him out for a brief moment. The chaos of the ordeal and Joe’s confusion meant he failed to recognise who was standing over him.

The man in the van wearing a black jacket was later revealed to be Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough). He was apparently killed by Pierce Harris in 2020, but returned yesterday driving a van that had an unknown woman in the back.

Graham got out of the vehicle and went in search of Jodie, but found Joe on the floor in the process. When these two were in the village together, Graham acted as a father figure to Joe, so he couldn’t help but visit him in hospital a few hours later.

Joe briefly glanced at Graham but he left seconds after. In tonight’s episode, that moment played on Joe’s mind a great deal. It was incredibly brief, but it was enough for Joe to remain distant and confused as Kim Tate (Claire King) arrived to take him home.

Every man and their dog believes Pierce killed Graham six years ago, so seeing someone that looks remarkably like him is bound to play on Joe’s mind in the coming days. Will he tell anyone about his thoughts?