Caleb Milligan (William Ash), who had spent several days in an artificial coma following his fall from a high ridge in the Emmerdale episode airing on Wednesday (June 21), finally awoke with his sister Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and son Nicky (Lewis Cope) by his side.
After arriving the day before and sob-filledly confessing at his father’s bedside that he was the one who purposefully pushed him off the ridge and left him to die, Nicky had spent the entire night at the hospital. Nicky’s biggest fear, then, was whether Caleb would be able to communicate with the police when his eyes began to flutter open.
The doctor said, “He might not remember much anyway.” But it soon became obvious that Caleb had retained every detail. Nicky tried to place the blame on Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb), the police’s top suspect at the time, but Caleb’s mind was made up.
Insisting to his kid, “I remember exactly what happened,” he said. “You pushed me,” the speaker said.
In a flashback, we witnessed what had transpired after Nicky (Rosie Bentham) called off his wedding to Gabby and returned to the village. He overheard Caleb discussing Vinny (Bradley Johnson) selling Mill Cottage to him. This made him know that, despite Caleb’s pretence that Nicky’s mother was in danger of losing her home and that Nicky was under further pressure to aid him in his scheme to take down Kim Tate (Claire King), he had plenty of money all along.
Lewis Cope explained to us, “So he just lied to Nicky throughout, and it’s only at that point that he realises and learns that information.” Then Nicky follows him into the forest. I believe it was just a spur of the moment decision; he was cornered, felt deceived and hurt, and something just came over him; he made the choice, and rage overcame him.
Nicky made an effort to explain to Caleb that it was an accident. Caleb, however, did not believe this justification. He said, “You left me there dying.”
Later, when Nicky entered Caleb’s room, the latter questioned whether he had hoped to discover him dozing off so he could “stick a pillow over me head and finish the job.” Nicky said he’d never do that, but after Caleb discussed talking to the police, he might have had second thoughts.
He claimed that he had not made up his mind. He said, “Right now, I could point the finger at either you or Mackenzie.” “You’ll know that I’ve chosen you if you see the police come in,” the man said.
How will Caleb choose to proceed? Would he honestly sentence his own son to prison for a decision made as a direct result of the intense pressure Caleb himself applied to him over the previous six months, during which time Nicky’s every move served Caleb’s revenge scheme?
