Emmerdale's Ned Porteous drops huge clue about Joe Tate's fate in deadly whodunnit

There's deadly scenes ahead for Joe Tate on Emmerdale, and actor Ned Porteous has spilled all on the revenge aimed at his villainous character.

Details are being kept under wraps on the specifics, but there's unmissable episodes set to air this week. With Joe creating a number of enemies and his cruel actions and sick lies finally out in the open, it's only a matter of time before one of those people he's wronged takes a brutal revenge on him.

With soap boss Laura Shaw teasing "brilliant" twists and turns and likening the plot to a past stunt on the show, it's safe to say fans won't be disappointed. But does the brutal twist lead to the death and final comeuppance of villain Joe?

He's stolen his own uncle's kidney in a stabbing set-up, embarked on an affair with a married woman and even drugged his brother Noah Dingle, leading to a deadly car crash that claimed the lives of three village residents. He gets a taste of his own medicine though and it could prove fatal.

Teasing his future on the show, Joe actor Ned dropped some huge hints about the baddie's fate and what could lie ahead if he survives. Teasing Joe could retaliate against his attacker in his own plan of payback, Ned suggested it might not be all over just yet.

Ned spilled to The Mirror and other press: "Somebody’s always got it in for Joe, he doesn’t have the easiest life. But then he kind of asks for it, I suppose.

"I think there’s a more tactful way to go around doing what he has to do. He’s put in quite tricky positions and you have to find a reason for motivating your character for what he’s doing."

On whether the attack will lead to Joe taking revenge if he survives the ordeal, Ned said: "I’m sure he will. There will be some sort of vengeance. It’s not a nice thing to be pushed out of a window so I’m sure he’s quite miffed about that."

With this teasing a survival for the character amid death fears from fans, he also addressed whether there was any redemption for Joe. He said: "Oh god! I’m not sure there’s too much charm and charisma you can give someone to get them to forgive you for all that. I’d like to think so."

Ned had no idea the deadly whodunnit was coming when he returned to the ITV soap in a major Christmas twist in December. While he knew about Joe's grim actions including the organ theft and other twists, bosses kept back the fact he could be leaving very soon.

He explained: "This particular storyline I didn’t know much about, it wasn’t part of the overriding arc when I came back to the show. There will be a similar hijink-type storyline around the corner that keeps it interesting and fresh. Or hopefully anyway."

Once he knew the truth and found out who the culprit was, actor Ned found it very difficult to keep quiet. He confessed: "It was really, really hard. We filmed all of this two months ago and during that time we’ve been trying to create the whole tree of new interesting storylines and possible ‘whodunnits’.

"It’s always a game of 'What do people know? What are we allowed to say?' and I’m really bad with that. When you’ve managed to p**s off everyone in the village it makes for a very interesting ‘whodunnit’ storyline."

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .