John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) found himself back on the phone to a mental health aider in tonight’s episode of Emmerdale.
A couple of days ago, John reluctantly opened up to Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) after she noticed he was exhausted at work. John admitted that he’s been struggling because Tracy Shankley (Amy Walsh) has been texting him a lot for support.
Manpreet tried to take the weight off John by suggesting that Tracy contact a service called Guardians, essentially the Emmerdale equivalent of Samaritans. John said he would tell Tracy about it, but he then took the leaflet home and rang the helpline himself.
The volunteer asked John about his life, and he revealed that he finds it hard to sleep at the moment due to constantly having the same nightmare. In the end, John got overwhelmed and hung up the call.
Yesterday, John paid a visit to Aaron Dingle’s (Danny Miller) ex Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley).
Robert has been in prison ever since he broke the rules of his bail conditions. John decided to see him in an attempt to scare him away, but it was also because he was feeling insecure and paranoid.
Robert pushed John’s buttons and it made his anger bubble over. The complex character ended up telling his distant brother that he’s capable of a lot, and could take his life from him if he wanted.
In tonight’s episode, John wasted no time in confronting Aaron about him kissing Robert. Aaron made an effort to reassure John because as far as he’s concerned, he’s telling the truth when it comes to him not wanting to get back with his ex.
That evening, John was seen on his own in the flat. He had called the helpline again, and was talking to a volunteer about Aaron.
John said that Aaron thought of him as a hero, but now he’s fearing that view is changing. He also spoke about his job, but told the person on the line that he’s a paramedic, not an employee at a local surgery.
John said that he gets such a buzz when he saves someone, and loves how he feels when people praise him after. The volunteer, of course not knowing who John is, suggested that he may feel better if he focused more on his job and how happy it makes him.
What the caller doesn’t know is that John has orchestrated many deadly situations over the past few months, just so he could swoop in and save the person in danger. The comments during the phone call certainly suggest that John is going to do the same thing again soon, seemingly craving the high.
But who will he put in jeopardy is time?
