Next week on Emmerdale, Mandy’s side hussle threatens her wedding, Belle stands up to Tom, Vinny’s ready to take the next step, and Sarah puts herself at risk.
1) Mandy’s side-hustle is discovered by Bear
The road to the altar has never been a simple journey in soapland, as Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) is reminded next week when her fourth wedding day comes around.
Engaged to ex-husband Paddy (Dominic Brunt), Mandy has been quietly struggling with her finances for some months.
Spiralling costs and a lack of footfall at her salon PampaManda has led to Mandy’s debts mounting, and she is determined to fix it herself.
“She doesn’t want to ask her future husband, nor does she want to ask her son who’s got a lot of money, for any handouts,” Lisa Riley told EverySoap during a press event last month.
“Dingle women stand on their own two feet, and she says that. She’s doing anything and everything she can to try and find a way of making quick cash.”
It was a chat with Gail (Rachael Gill-Davis) this week however that put Mandy onto the idea of becoming a financial dominatrix.
Tracy (Amy Walsh), who Mandy had confided in about her debts, didn’t think it was a good idea, but Mandy went ahead and created a profile for her new online pseudonym—Madame Diamante Dales.
Next week, Tracy isn’t happy when she overhears Mandy in the middle of a findom call, but Mandy tries to assure her that she’s taking adequate safety measures, and that she only needs one more client to clear her debt.
“It’s not just like a tenner,” Lisa explains. “It’s £400 for 20 minutes. Mandy’s done the maths with the amount she owes—she owes the taxman and she’s maxed out two credit cards—and it’s only going to be literally up to the day of the wedding.”
Mandy is delighted when Amelia (Daisy Campbell) later gifts her a karaoke machine, in advance of a surprise hen do that has been organised. But before she can party, Mandy has to fit in another findom client, aswell as future-father-in-law Bear’s (Joel Richards) beard trim appointment.
Passing Bear over to Amelia to deal with, Mandy goes to take her call, but doesn’t realise that the karaoke system is picking up the conversation.
As Bear sits waiting in the salon, he’s stunned to hear all the details of Mandy’s call being broadcast over the speaker!
Bear is shocked by Mandy’s apparent betrayal of his son, and struggles to keep his composure, with Mandy confused when he later makes some pointed comments towards her.
Bear is later educating himself on Mandy’s latest venture when Paddy and Marlon (Mark Charnock) arrive, and when it’s decided to throw Paddy a spontaneous Stag do, Bear is torn as to whether to reveal the truth.
Later, Bear confronts a mortified Mandy over her little side hustle. She desperately tries to explain about her circumstances but a scathing Bear warns her that she needs to tell Paddy, otherwise he will.
After much grovelling, Mandy convinces Bear to keep quiet, promising that she’s quitting whilst she ahead. But later, when another client offers her £300, it seems the temptation could be too much.
When Tracy returns and sees the page open on Mandy’s laptop, Mandy insists that it’s one last client just so that she can treat Paddy whilst on honeymoon in Venice.
“There’s a full stop where she needs to be,” Lisa continues. “And that’s why with this last client, she truly says, hand on heart, that this is for Venice, to give Paddy the five star treatment.”
But little does Mandy realise that she’s walking into a trap. When Bear gets a notification on his phone, revealing himself to be Mandy’s new client, he leads Paddy and Marlon into the backroom with Chas (Lucy Pargeter) where they see with their own eyes exactly what Mandy has been up to.
Paddy is blindsided, and left wondering whether he can now go ahead with the wedding…
2) The wedding’s off!
The next morning, with Bear making his position on Mandy’s antics quite clear, Marlon is at his wits’ end, worried for her relationship with Paddy.
When Paddy then comes out and reveals that he cannot marry Mandy, Marlon is beside himself. Marlon and Bear bicker with Paddy caught in the middle—Bear is thrilled with the decision, whereas Marlon is desperately hoping that he can change Paddy’s mind.
Meanwhile, Mandy and Vinny are getting ready over at the salon, and after Mandy realises that she’s been let down by mum Vera Lynn once again in showing no support for the nuptials, there’s a touching moment between mum and son.
“He just looks at his mum and sees the elation, sees her happiness,” Lisa explains. “He physically cries, and says Cinderella’s finally got her Prince Charming, it’s just beautiful.”
But the moment is well and truly broken when Bear enters and reveals that Paddy knows all about her findom business.
Mandy is horrified and runs through the village to go an explain things to Paddy… but will it be too little too late?
“Paddy’s more bothered about the lies,” Dominic Brunt teases. “He says ‘You can be a lap dancer for all I care, I don’t want you to lie to me.’ That’s what’s really upset him because of the Chas thing. She was at it behind his back for ages, and was planning to take his daughter away. It was the lies that did his head in.”
Will Mandy be able to talk Paddy round and save their special day?
3) Belle stands up to Tom
Elsewhere in the village, after a dramatic showdown which saw her finally leave abusive husband Tom (James Chase), Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) is due back in the village having spent some time in Scotland.
Belle had stood firm as Tom attempted to win her back, though she did let herself be talked into moving back into Dale Head cottage, on the understanding that Tom would move out.
Belle insisted on removing Tom’s surveillance equipment and having the locks changed, though that ended up being for nothing when devious Tom bribed the locksmith into giving him the spare key.
With tools at his disposal, Tom secretly let himself into the cottage once Belle had left for Scotland. Whilst it wasn’t revealed what he had been doing in there, the satisfied grin as he exited left us in no doubt that he had re-installed some sort of surveillance to regain control.
When Belle returns, she’s greeted by Sarah (Katie Hill) who reveals that Tom has bought her a ‘welcome home’ gift—a retro Mini, to replace the car that he had previously sold behind her back.
Seemingly not swayed by the expensive gift, Belle is later spooked when Tom brazenly lets himself into the cottage, who is in the belief that they can talk about getting back together.
Despite her anxiety levels rising, Belle is able to hold her own as Tom attempts every trick up his sleeve in order to guilt-trip her into taking him back.
Belle asserts that she will not be accepting the car, and she doesn’t even want to see or talk to him, never mind reunite with him.
Fearful of how Tom may react, Belle is thrown when Tom seemingly agrees to her terms and leaves the cottage.
But as he later sits in the beer garden at The Woolpack, little does Belle know that Tom is watching her every move in the cottage on his phone, via the newly installed covert cameras…
4) Jimmy and Nicola receive devastating news about Angel
Elsewhere, Jimmy (Nick Miles) and Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) are trying to carry on with their daily lives as daughter Angelina (Rebecca Bakes) remains incarcerated.
Angel is more than halfway through an 8-month sentence for death by dangerous driving, after the New Year’s Eve joyride that claimed the life of friend Heath Hope (Sebastian Dowling).
Jimmy and Nicola were understandably concerned with how their 14-year-old would cope in the Secure Children’s Home, and next week they receive the call they’d been dreading, informing them that Angelica has been involved in a fight.
Will Angelica be okay?
5) Vinny’s ready to take the next step
Elsewhere, Vinny and Gabby (Rosie Bentham) have been taking tentative steps into a relationship in recent weeks, having both been hit by heartbreak in recent times.
It’s approaching two years since Vinny lost his wife Liv during the great storm, whilst Gabby was left humiliated when fiance Nicky dumped her as they were about to head down the altar, revealing he was gay and was only with her as part of Caleb’s (Will Ash) to bring down Kim (Claire King).
Whilst Vinny’s first attempt to kiss Gabby didn’t go down too well, Gabby later came to realise that she had developed feelings for him.
After the two cemented the unexpected turn in their friendship after locking lips, Vinny began to stress about the prospect of losing his virginity, late wife Liv having been asexual.
Luckily for Vinny, Gail (Rachael Gill-Davies) was on call with some hand-drawn diagrams and some sound advice. “Think of it as darts,” she explained. “You’re not aiming for the bull, but the double top. Oh, but don’t step over the oche… that line’s there for a reason…”
Next week, as Vinny and Gabby share another kiss on the sofa at Mulberry, he explains that he thinks he’s ready to take that next step…
Will Vinny have the confidence to hit his double 20, or will he go bust?
Later, Vinny confides about the latest developments with Liv’s brother Aaron (Danny Miller), who is happy to see Vinny finally being able to move on.
6) Noah’s heartbreak
There’s no such happy ending for Noah (Jack Downham) though, after being dumped by girlfriend Amelia.
Amelia had finished things after discovering that Noah had been the one to grass up his third cousin Samson (Sam Hall) to the police over the assault on Josh (Osian Morgan), leading to Samson’s immediate arrest.
Already on bail awaiting his court appearance for lying to the police over the incident at The Hide, Samson was sentenced to four years imprisonment, leaving baby Esther without her biological father around.
Given Noah and Samson’s history, Amelia was in no doubt that Noah wasn’t motivated by a desire for justice, but for revenge. With the added bonus that he would get to be the sole father figure in Esther’s formative years.
Noah’s mum Charity (Emma Atkins) was less than impressed to hear about the breakup, particularly since Noah’s trust fund is set up to provide for Esther’s future, and next week Noah hopes that he will still be able to play a part in Esther’s life.
But Noah is crushed when Amelia suggests that it would be better for Esther if he wasn’t.
7) Sarah puts herself at risk
If Noah wasn’t enough to worry about, Charity is concerned for granddaughter Sarah when she finds her worse for wear inside a car in the garage.
She’s furious to realise that Sarah has been drinking whilst on her medication, against doctor’s orders.
With Sarah spending much of her childhood in and out of hospital, having battled from leukaemia, throat cancer, and heart failure resulting in a transplant, Charity cannot believe that Sarah would be so careless.
Is this incident a one-off, or is Sarah on a downward spiral…?
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