ITV Emmerdale legend’s return ‘exposed’ and it’s bad news for John Sugden

Emmerdale fans believe they’ve uncovered Ella Forster’s village return, and it’s bad news for John Sugden.

In March, Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) was discovered unconscious in The Woolpack after collapsing and hitting her head, which was later revealed to be an overdose.

Chas’ fiancé, Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson), immediately pointed the finger at his ex-lover, Ella (Paula Lane), who had shown up at their engagement party the previous day, but she consistently denied any involvement.

The situation took a more ominous turn when Liam and Chas’ wedding was cancelled in an email, an act they instantly attributed to Ella. A window at The Woolpack was smashed shortly afterwards.

Despite her efforts to establish her innocence, Ella was eventually arrested, leading to her exit from the village, reports Belfast Live.

Ella Forster left the village back in March (Image: ITV)

However, a flashback episode later revealed that it was actually John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) who had framed Ella.

The villain also m.u.r.d.e.r.e.d Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) following last year’s barn fire, and caused a severe allergic reaction in Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant).

Since Nate’s body was dredged up from the lake by the police last week, John has been worried about getting caught.

On Monday (June 16), John shared his sleep troubles with village GP Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker), attributing them to his concern for Nate’s wife, Tracy (Amy Walsh).

In an effort to look after her colleague’s mental health, Manpreet gave John a helpline leaflet for Tracy to help lift some of the burden off his shoulders.

Chas Dingle accused Ella of spiking her

However, John opted not to share the details with Tracy, choosing instead to call the helpline himself to discuss the nightmares that have been plaguing him, while flashbacks of Nate’s d.e.a.t.h played out on screen.

On Wednesday (June 18), John carried on reaching out to the helpline, with a female volunteer offering advice to ease his distress.

“Can I ask, are there things you do in your life to make yourself feel better?” she asked, with John explaining that he puts most of his energy into his work as a paramedic.

“When I save someone, it’s the biggest high in the world. It lasts for days, everyone telling me how good I am,” he added.

The volunteer then suggested that John focus on “saving people”, and things will eventually fall into place.

John Sugden reached out to a helpline this week

“Yes, thank you. I know exactly what I need to do,” John ominously responded just as the credit began rolling.

During Thursday’s (June 19) hour-long instalment, John encouraged a grieving Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) to drink a dangerous amount of alcohol, only for the villain to “save” him just as Moira (Natalie J Robb) walked through the door.

After watching this week’s dramatic scenes, several Emmerdale fans are convinced that Ella is the anonymous call handler, and could be planning to get revenge on John for setting her up.

“Maybe Ella’s the call handler on her new job and she could catch John out,” one person speculated on Instagram.

Another chimed in: “The woman does sound like her,” while a third said: “Yess love this, maybe Ella’s found out about John setting her up and wants revenge.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 at 7.30pm and is available to stream from 7am on ITVX