Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop)’s day in tonight’s Emmerdale took quite the turn. One moment she was radiantly happy, looking forward to her upcoming wedding and honeymoon and finding the perfect wedding dress.
But it wasn’t long before she discovered that her fiancé Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) had taken a huge gamble with their future – and lost.
When Eric proposed to long term partner Brenda recently he promised her a no-expenses-spared wedding and surprised her with tickets for a round-the-world-cruise, making sure there would be a stop in Canada so Brenda could visit her granddaughter Molly.
Brenda was touched by her partner’s thoughtfulness and generosity, as he insisted on her having the best of everything at the wedding and said he would foot the bill. Unfortunately it soon became clear to viewers that Eric had gambled everything on cryptocurrency – and he was heading for disaster.
In this episode Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi) had found the perfect wedding dress for Brenda, who was thrilled. Since Eric was paying for everything else, she decided to pay for the dress from her own savings – but her card was declined. She told Eric what had happened and he reassured her that it was a technical glitch that he’d already spoken to the bank about.
In private, however, Eric was panicking. His contact who was dealing with his cryptocurrency investments hung up on him, and Noah Dingle (Jack Downham), who’d invested a small amount himself, told Eric that the company Eric was using, QuidULike, was a scam.
When Dr Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) called into the shop he spotted Eric taking money from the till and saw the racing pages of a newspaper with a bet circled. He realised Eric was about to bet the shop’s takings on a horse and tried to stop him, telling him it was likely that the medication Eric has recently started taking for his Parkinson’s had made him impulsive.
It’s never easy to tell Eric Pollard what to do and eventually Liam had to let him go. The horse ended up winning and he got a good payout, but it was too little, too late.
When he got home, Brenda had questions. She’d spoken to the bank, who told her that it was Eric who’d emptied her account. Liam had told her to talk to him about his meds.
Eric was forced to admit that he’d invested everything they had in crypto – and it had all gone. He tried to make things better by saying he’d taken out a loan, using the house as security.
Brenda was in absolute despair and called him ‘stupid’ for blowing her life savings and risking their house. He told her about the win on the horse, but the admission he’d got the money out of the till only made her despair even more that he was risking every penny they had.
Her whole world turned upside down, Brenda told him that they might not have a future together because he ‘betrayed her so deeply she’ll never get over it.’
Is there any way out of this mess for Eric Pollard? And can Brenda ever forgive him? With reports that Lesley Dunlop is set to exit the show soon, is this the final straw for poor Brenda?
