What happened on Emmerdale tonight: Ross returned to the village, and Tom was in trouble

In Emmerdale tonight (Tuesday, October 29), Ross Barton returned to the village. This came in the wake of his fight with Billy – in which he emerged the loser, having taken a sucker-punch to the face.

Elsewhere, Tom tried to talk his way out of trouble, and Mack squared off against Ross.

Here’s what else happened in Emmerdale tonight.

Ross and Billy came to blows in Emmerdale tonight

The bell rang on Billy’s illegal bare knuckle fight, and his opponent was revealed – Ross Barton, in full pantomime villain role. As a concerned Aaron and Mack looked on, Ross set about beating poor Billy into a fine paste.

Aware that Billy was out of his depth, Aaron tried to convince him to take a dive. Meanwhile, Mack attempted to get young Moses – who Ross had brought along to watch – out of the building. As he did so, Moses cried out, distracting Ross.

This was when Billy got in a lucky punch, knocking his opponent unconscious. Aaron was quick to point out that Billy may have landed himself in even more trouble, given he was supposed to have thrown the fight.

“You just made a very silly mistake,” a sinister Jade warned as she handed over a wad of cash. Back at home, he lied to Dawn, telling her he’d come off the worse in a scrap against Aaron.

A face from the past returned

Back at home, Mack snitched on Ross to Charity, revealing that he’d let Moses watch him fight. Charity answered the door to find Ross on the doorstep, glowering away, and demanding his son back.

Throwing his weight around, Ross mocked Mack over his parenting to Reuben – then delivered a devastating blow to the gut which brought Mack to his knees and shutting his mouth… for now.

In a huff, Mack stormed out on Charity. He confronted Ross again in the pub, where he proved he hadn’t learned his lesson – invoking the name of Ross’s mother, Emma.

The pair continued to bicker out on the street, where Ross followed up his physical beat-down with a verbal one, warning Mack that someone had just ‘thrown a grenade’ into his happy little life. Boom.

Tom tried to wriggle out of trouble

Aware that Tom had lost his temper at Carl, Nicola threatened to call the police. In an attempt to worm out of trouble, Tom admitted that he did snap at Carl, but that’s as far as he’d gone… honestly.

While Jimmy was taken in, Nicola wasn’t buying it. Tom admitted the truth about the cameras, but tried to spin the narrative that he’d only been spying on her for her own safety.

Pulling on Jimmy’s heartstrings with a little emotional blackmail, Tom begged for his uncle’s forgiveness. “You’re like a father to me,” doe-eyed Tom claimed, causing dim Jim to recall mistakes he’d made with Angelica.

Tom may have convinced his uncle for now, but Nicola isn’t one to give up easily…

Elsewhere on Emmerdale tonight: the book club is in session

Outside the Woolpack, the three members of the Emmerdale book club – Gail, Mary and Bob – debated the merits of Bob’s latest pick – Jackie Collins’ Hollywood Wives.

As Bob wandered off to dive into his book, Mary asked Gail for a front of house job – which Gail agreed to. It may have been Mary’s first day pulling pints, but she can’t have done much worse than Gail. “Your face… has it always been like that?” Gail tactlessly asked the man with the acid scars.

Against patter like that, Mary looked like an absolute pro in comparison.

Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2024

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

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