EXCLUSIVE Emmerdale’s Joe Tate actor Ned Porteous has told The Mirror all about whether his character is capable of trying to kill someone after Billy Fletcher’s attack
Who attacked Billy in Emmerdale might have been revealed(Image: ITV)
Who attacked Billy in Emmerdale might have been revealed, or at least someone may have been ruled out.
Amid theories from viewers about who was to blame, Billy’s fate remains unknown. He’s in a coma, fighting for his life after being brutally attacked and left with a serious head injury.
Billy sustained a bleed on the brain, after Kerry Wyatt found her colleague lifeless on the floor of the depot where they work. He was lying with his head in a pool of blood, with his loved ones warned he’s in a bad way.
Kerry and boss Caleb Miligan were quick to point out to the police that Joe Tate may have attacked Billy. After all he had threatened Billy to Caleb, after Caleb told Joe about Billy and Dawn’s apparent kiss.
Of course it’s not the first time Joe has caused someone to be injured or killed, while it’s not like him to get his hands dirty. But has he taken a brutal revenge on Billy, or is he being framed?
Fans have mixed ideas on the truth, and now speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Joe actor Ned Porteous has had his say. He addressed whether Joe is capable of hurting Billy in this way, while he also teased whether his character is the real attacker.
With some fans saying it’s too obvious to be Joe, Ned discussed this and pointed out Joe did have it in him to commit the crime. That said, something he told us could hint that Joe is not to blame.
Asked if Joe could be at fault, he replied: “I think Joe has it in him to do a whole bunch of things. Yeah. I think the beauty of this character, and the fun I’ve been having with the character, is the duality between his capabilities for great good and great evil.
“I think as a thematic tool, Joe, and characters like Joe, are extremely useful for the screenwriters, because we can see that he is a good dude, but he has no practice at it. He’s volatile, he has a complete lack of control of his emotions.
“So, if you were to get to him, he’ll get you back sevenfold.” We then questioned whether if Joe was innocent, will he struggle to prove that innocence given Joe’s dark ways in the past.
He told us: “Absolutely. I think everything that Joe does in this village is guilty until proven innocent, because why on earth wouldn’t it be? We’ve only ever seen Joe do bad things to people, apart from the one or two people that he’s let close to himself and his heart that know that he’s not completely evil.”
So does this comment about not being completely evil and being “guilty until proven innocent” suggest Joe isn’t the one to blame? After all, some fans are suspecting Joe’s nemesis Caleb Miligan may have attacked Billy, not Joe.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .