The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.
Mild-mannered Emmerdale GP Dr Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) wasn’t feeling quite himself in this episode. Claudette (Flo Wilson) spotted him on his way to the allotment and struck up a conversation about her spinach seeds.
Not the most riveting of topics, but that didn’t explain the huge yawn that Liam responded with. Claudette was a bit concerned. Liam explained he’d had a disturbed night’s sleep.
Was he perhaps worrying about his fiancée Chas (Lucy Pargeter)’s son Aaron (Danny Miller), currently in an induced coma in hospital? Or was he concerned about his work colleague John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth), in the same hospital recovering from injuries sustained when he pulled Aaron off a cliff in his latest action as the village’s current killer?
Not that Liam knows that last bit, of course. Many more sleepless nights are ahead when the residents of Emmerdale discover the full extent of John’s crimes, which include smacking Liam over the head and drugging Chas as well as killing Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) and shooting Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) through the chest with an arrow and keeping him imprisoned in a bunker.
But back to Liam and his broken night’s sleep, which he informed Claudette was bladder-related. Caffeine goes through him ‘like a Ferrari,’ apparently. Claudette said that was what her late grandson Ethan would have called ‘too much information.’
As Claudette went on to ask about Aaron’s health, Liam looked to be in a bit of discomfort and was soon making his excuses and heading off.
Later, at the allotment, we saw him relieving himself behind the shelter of some plants. Maybe not quite sheltered enough, because when Claudette turned up she was quite shocked at the sight that greeted her. Liam attempted to explain but was branded a ‘dirty, dirty man’ by his deeply moral employee.
That’s the kind of thing that could have Liam’s previously good reputation in the village in tatters if Claudette was to broadcast it, but in upcoming episodes she’s set to show a more sympathetic approach when Liam admits that he’s been having trouble controlling his bladder.
Claudette urges him to get himself checked out, and obviously this is exactly the advice Liam would give to other people. But they say doctors make the worst patients – will he continue trying to ignore the issue, hoping it’ll go away?
