Emmerdale newcomer John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) continued to make his presence felt in the village in Tuesday’s episode, although if he had his own way he’d have been long gone before now.
John’s van, which is also his home, ended up in a lake after Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) and Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) stole it and Mack left it parked by the lake but forgot to put the handbrake on.
The feud between Mack and Aaron on one side and John on the other showed no signs of cooling in this episode, after John threatened Cain (Jeff Hordley) with the police and Cain forced Mack to apologise to him and to get the van out of the water and sort it out at his own expense.
When Mack and Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) saw John apparently lurking at Butlers later they tried to ambush him, but once again John showed that he’s faster in a fight and he took a swing at Mack.
Cain intervened and explained that he’d given John a job so he could earn some money while his van was being repaired. This job offer wan’t as random as it sounds, because it turned out that John had previously worked as a farmhand.
When Victoria (Isabel Hodgins) heard this she was delighted to hear that her brother was carrying on the family tradition of farming, as of course their father Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) was a farmer.
Victoria was pleased to hear that John will be staying in the village for a bit longer, because she really wants to get to know him more. This won’t be easy, because so far John has been very reluctant to give anything away about himself.
He’s guarded and defensive and as much as Victoria and Sarah (Katie Hill) have tried to be friendly to him, he doesn’t seem to want to get to know his new family.
In this episode another dimension was added to the enigma of John. Victoria had found one of his possessions while she was tidying up at home and handed it to him. It was a small tin box, which she hadn’t opened. When John lifted the lid to check the contents Victoria was curious to see what was inside.
‘Is that a dog tag? Like from the army?’
John looked strained and confirmed he had been in the army but that he didn’t want to talk about that time in his life. ‘It’s over,’ he said. Beginning to learn that she shouldn’t push him too hard, Victoria left it at that. But after she’d gone, John looked at the dog tag again and we saw the name inscribed on it. It didn’t say John Sugden as expected, but ‘Aidan Moore.’
This is a mystery. Is Aidan someone John knew in the army, a fallen comrade perhaps? Could he be someone John was previously romantically involved with?
The surname Moore does have a place in John’s family history, however. In the 1980s, before John was born, his father Jack Sugden had an affair with a woman called Karen Moore (Annie Hulley) who was an auctioneer’s assistant at Hotten Market. When Jack went back to his wife Pat (Helen Weir), Karen later became romantically involved with Jack’s brother Joe (Frazer Hines) for a short period
Could there be a connection between Karen and Aidan? Possibly Aidan is another long-lost Sugden brother? Or could John actually be Aidan Moore?
We have so many questions, but Oliver Farnworth told us that we’re only going to find out John’s background very gradually.
‘There’s a lot to him, and a lot of stuff in the initial character breakdown that was hinted at but wasn’t necessarily revealed, because obviously, they don’t like to give too much away too quickly,’ he confirmed.
‘I’m still finding stuff out about him.’
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