Dawn’s exit storyline ‘confirmed’ in Emmerdale as she discovers Joe’s evil

The scales are well and truly set to fall from Dawn Taylor’s (Olivia Bromley) eyes in Emmerdale next week as she sees scheming Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) for who he truly is.

Despite his shortcomings when it comes to being a decent human being, Dawn has been desperately hoping that Joe is capable of turning over a new leaf.

Joe has done some dastardly things in his time but his thirst for power and quest for Butlers farm have resulted in him crossing a line that even a previous version of himself would be appalled at, from having Holly Barton’s memorial tree cut down to setting Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) up and blackmailing a terrified Victoria Barton (Isabel Hodgins).

Dawn has often not got involved when it comes to Joe’s twisted acts, believing that deep down he’s a good guy, but she couldn’t ignore the claims that he had Holly’s tree cut down and thus confronted him on the subject.

Joe feigned innocence, claiming it was a genuine mistake and Dawn believed him, though made it quite clear that she could never be with someone capable of doing something so heinous.

Joe’s crimes continued to catch up with him when Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) revealed to Dawn that her other half had filmed Victoria fighting for her life when confronted by killer John (Oliver Farnworth) in the woods and proceeded to blackmail her with the footage of her taking the murderer’s life in self-defence in the hopes of securing her share of Butlers.

Yet again, Dawn was left shaken to the core, horrified that Joe didn’t help Victoria during the scuffle, let alone the fact he then used it as leverage to succeed in business.

After some grovelling from Joe, Dawn decided to give him one more chance, urging him to come clean about any other shocking secrets if he had any left to tell.

Joe refrained from doing so, telling Dawn there are no more skeletons left in his closet. But perhaps his biggest sin of all is set to catch up him next week when the truth about the role he played in Moira’s (Natalie J Robb) imprisonment is unearthed.

Viewers will recall how Joe blackmailed Robert – with the footage of Victoria killing John – into planting ID cards and passports at Butlers in the hopes of causing trouble for Moira with the police so that he could prey on her suffering and secure her farm.

Moira, however, was subsequently arrested on modern slavery charges, with the authorities suspecting that she had some involvement in the trafficking operation in the village run by Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).

The farmer not only lost her home and her beloved farm as a result of Joe’s villainy but she also faced decades in prison without her boys, including Kyle, who had only recently lost his mum Amy (Natalie Ann Jamieson).

To make the situation even more heartbreaking, Cain had been diagnosed with cancer and feared that his kids would be left without a mum or a dad if the prognosis wasn’t good.

Moira’s freedom, however, was subsequently granted after a guilty Robert found evidence to prove her innocence in the trafficking operation. Next week, with Moira helping him out at the farm, he takes it upon himself to confess his role in her jail nightmare.

Horrified, Moira urges him to go the police but Aaron (Danny Miller) reckons there’s no point in such a thing, reminding her that the stress of Robert’s involvement is the last thing Cain needs right now ahead of his operation.

What’s more, Aaron reiterates to her that Robert was simply a pawn in a game played by her ultimate nemesis Joe, who is the one that Moira should be taking umbrage with.

Moira realises he’s right and, in a bid to get revenge, she makes her way up to Home Farm with a shotgun, much like she did with Jamie several years earlier.

As for how Joe manages to weasel his way out of that situation we’ll just have to wait and see, but in a bid to ensure Joe loses everything, Moira instead turns her attention to Dawn, spilling the dastardly deeds of her beau’s role in her prison stretch.

The question is: how will Dawn react? One more strike and Joe is out – that’s what she said all those weeks ago. Will she follow through and put an end to their relationship?

With reports that Dawn star Olivia Bromley is set to leave the show, will having her heart broken so badly by Joe prove to be the reason for her character’s departure?