‘Emmerdale’ fans were pretty much unanimous in their praise for Ryan Hawley’s character Robert Sugden on Monday (17 October) night, but there’s one aspect of his emotional speech about coming out that has divided fans.
The episode focussed almost entirely on Robert and his boyfriend Aaron Dingle - better known as Robron - and viewers took to Twitter in their droves after Robert’s candid speech, which resulted in Aaron saying ‘I love you’ for the first time.
However, Robert’s scene also included a new fact about his father, the much-loved Jack Sugden, as he revealed that he once “leathered him” after catching him with another boy when he was 15 years old:
This new detail came as a surprise to many soap fans, and some have praised the writing team for deciding to reveal a not-so-nice side of Jack, while others aren’t so pleased with the retconning (that’s fancy TV speak for rewriting history):
Some even debated whether Jack would have been capable of such a thing:
The episode marked the beginning of a huge week for ‘Emmerdale’, which will end in a stunt that changes the village forever.
A number of fan favourites will be involved in the drama, with at least one being killed off.
Who will it be? Read our ‘Emmerdale’ episode guides and vote in the poll below…