ITV Emmerdale fans ‘work out’ worrying reason for Eric Pollard’s dark behaviour

Emmerdale viewers believe they know why Eric Pollard has suddenly changed his personality “overnight”, after ruthless scenes on the ITV soap.

It’s been decades since we last saw Eric be more of a villainous character, but this week he’s targeted three people. We’ve seen a darker side to the character, with some fans turning against him.

But many fans are confused if not concerned about his sudden darker edge to him, recalling how he used to be this way in the past. After years of him being a nicer character, why the sudden change back and why now?

Viewers are speculating the possible reason for his ruthless ways resurfacing, after he conned a character out of thousands of pounds that was meant to he theirs, before demanding money be paid to him for the wedding he recently funded. He also pulled strings to have someone fired from their job due to issues within his family.

After selling Kerry’s necklace and getting thousands of pounds for it, while telling her it was worthless, he’s trying to get money out of her she doesn’t even have. He’s also threatening Jai Sharma over an incident weeks ago, asking him to do as he says amid a new feud with Victoria Sugden.

After Victoria dumped Eric’s grandson Jacob Gallagher, Eric was on the warpath and told Jai he needed to fire her from The Hide or else. While some viewers loved the darker side to him and thought it was the ‘old’ Eric back on the show, others couldn’t understand the abrupt change in his behaviour.

Some shared concern over this, following Eric’s Parkinson’s disease diagnosis last year. While some fans wondered if it could be linked to his condition, there was speculation from fans that Eric was struggling to cope with his illness and was lashing out.

Is Eric’s ruthless ways a result of him trying to come to terms with his recent diagnosis, and is he pushing people away? Or might Eric just be fed up of people getting on the wrong side of him and those he loves following his son David Metcalfe fleeing the village?

Taking to X, one fan posted: “How can they change Eric so quick? We all felt sorry for his Parkinson’s to now disliking him for being nasty,” while one fan said: “Been a changed person since his diagnosis.”

Another viewer posted: “I suspect Eric’s Parkinson’s medication is affecting his personality tbh. He seems to have reverted back to the Eric of the 90s overnight!” As another viewer suggested this wasn’t likely to be the case, one fan posted: “I think he’s going back to his old ways…. because he can’t come to terms with his illness.”