Emmerdale review of the week: Pollard’s breaking our hearts, Tina’s boring and Steph’s arrived!

This week’s Emmerdale review is a bit emotional, we’ve got to be honest. Not Piper levels of emotion, obvs, but we have found ourselves a little misty-eyed at points.

Much to our surprise!

Here’s what set us off this week in our Emmerdale review.

Eric’s ordeal

Yes, yes, we know that Eric Pollard is a grumpy git with a fondness for a scam and a general air of crossness but how sad was his plight in this week’s episodes? That’s why this Emmerdale review is so teary!

As we know, Eric was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a while ago, and though he’s been managing well, there have been signs that he is beginning to struggle.

His tremors have become more obvious, though he’s been trying to hide them, and this week he lost his temper when he couldn’t get an appointment at the doctor’s surgery.

He also lost his temper, more than once, with Caleb who launched his new business and sent lorries hurtling past Pollard’s house.

But that’s not what made us teary. What really stabbed us in the heart was seeing Eric, who was once so bold and bolshy, trapped in bed, begging for help.

Thankfully he eventually recovered enough to get outside and head off to find someone who could come to his aid.

Sadly for him, that someone turned out to be Caleb! Bickering all the way, Eric let him drive him to find Liam.

Plucking our heartstrings!

All this drama resulted in Pollard realising he wanted to marry his long-term partner, Brenda. So he got down on one knee (admittedly with a bit of difficulty) and proposed. And Brenda said yes. And we found ourselves welling up at the sweet moment.

Chris Chittell has played Pollard since 1986, making him Emmerdale’s longest-serving cast member. Sometimes when actors have played the same role for a long time, it’s easy to take them for granted. But this week Chris reminded us just how good he is.

And a big thumbs up for Lesley Dunlop – his real-life wife and now on-screen fiancée – too. We know Brenda is leaving Emmerdale but we’re not sure how she’ll go. Will Eric go too? We do know that Pollard’s story won’t be easy to watch, but we are sure Chris and Lesley will do it proud.

Caleb v Jai in our Emmerdale review

Elsewhere in Emmerdale, things weren’t so interesting. We are not the biggest fans of a business-focused storyline at the best of times, and this whole thing with Caleb and Jai left us more than a little confused.

What exactly is Caleb’s business? Is it the haulage business? Or are there two haulage firms in Emmerdale now?

Why is Billy turning up at work wearing a suit? What is Kerry being paid to clean? We have a lot of questions, but we’re not that bothered about the answers, to be honest.

BUT saying all that, we are very pleased that Jai’s got his comeuppance. All that swaggering around and not playing fair over his divorce has finally come back to bite him, and we are very pleased.

Except, we wish he hadn’t shafted Laurel in the process, and we really wish it wasn’t Caleb who’d come out on top. Because he totally doesn’t deserve it either.

Steph’s arrived in our Emmerdale review!

We’ve been desperate to meet Caleb and Ruby’s daughter, Steph. We really like Ruby now and we’re looking forward to getting to know more about her daughter, too.

Georgia Jay seems to be perfectly cast as Steph. She’s physically similar to Ruby, and she’s even got similar mannerisms.

And she’s also perfected Caleb’s steely stare which she greeted her long-lost dad with. Altogether she’s great.

One thing that puzzled us a tiny bit though – and let’s be honest, this isn’t the first time the Miligan family have left us scratching our heads in this respect – was Steph’s accent.

We’re not sure where she’s been but she is super-posh. More so than her southerner mum, who apparently grew up alongside her Mancunian dad. And quite where Geordie Nicky fits into this rich family tapestry of accents, we don’t know.

But so far, we like the look of Steph. And we can’t wait to find out more about her!

Tina’s a damp squib

We were SO excited that Tina Dingle was returning but so far, she’s not filling us with excitement.

We might be more interested if it turns out Vinny really does have some siblings he’s never met, but that’s only a maybe. Frankly there are more than enough Dingles in the village already!

Our heads were spinning with the speed of Vinny finding out the truth, falling out with Mandy, falling out with Tina, then forgiving Mandy, all in the space of four episodes.

Where will Tina go from here? We’re still willing to give this return a chance, because we loved Tina Mark 1 back in the 90s, but we need something exciting to happen really soon!

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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