Emmerdale - TV review

Life on Emmerdale is a far cry from the days when muddy tractors and haystacks seemed the backdrop of many scenes.

Many of the storylines nowadays are centred round the people who occupy the homes and businesses surrounding the central village, but last night's double-bill episode was an exception.

It tackled the very sensitive issue of what appears to be some form of depression.

The story surrounds loveable rogue Zak Dingle, played by Steve Haliwell, the patriarch of the rough and ready Dingle clan. In recent weeks fans have seen his mental health deteriorate and having previously beaten cancer he fears that it has returned.

His long-suffering partner Lisa and son Sam tried their level best to reassure farmer Zak and as his behaviour gets more bizarre they are at a loss to know how best to support him.

He appears to be preoccupied and in the previous night's episode he killed one of the family's favourite chickens, affectionately known as Gladys.

In the opening scene last night we see him giving the hen a funeral at the small farm holding while Sam and Lisa helplessly look on.

Having insisted they would accompany him to the hospital, he tricks them into remaining inside the cottage while he gets into his red van and heads off to see his doctor at the hospital alone for his test results

Once there Zak is told he is in the clear with nothing to worry about and there is no sign of the cancer recurring. But Zak having convinced himself that he must be ill is unhappy with the outcome and harangues the doctor who calls in security staff.

He tells the doctor, "that can't be right, I'm a sick man. You can't fob me off that easy. I've been sick for weeks. I can feel it pressing down on my head".

At that the doctor realises that Zak was troubled about something and advises him to get some counselling to deal with his state of mind. But when he arrives back home Zak tells his partner Lisa that the cancer has definitely returned sending her into an emotional tail spin as the scale of his lies escalate.

Haliwell produces some very good acting to depict the character's downward spiral. He fobs off Lisa with some lame replies when she questions him about treatment and at the end of the double episode he claims there is nothing the doctor can do and he had been sent home to die.

Haliwell joined the cast in 1989, initially for a few episodes, but proved a hit with viewers and as a result has been nominated for several soap awards for his portrayal of the former bare-knuckle fighter with a heart of gold. Rest assured episodes in the coming weeks will be a roller-coaster of emotions for the Dingle clan as it becomes more apparent that he has not got cancer.

Elsewhere in the village Cameron has been getting very close to Chas Dingle at The Woolpack, where they both work, and as a result misses his girlfriend's daughter's hospital appointment for a biopsy. He is on the verge of telling his frustrated partner Debbie Dingle that he wants to break up with her, but has delayed it.

His actions raise questions among people in the extended family. Then heart-rendingly for viewers Sarah wakes up from her operation asking her mother and real dad Andy Sugden where the missing Cameron was as he had promised he would be at her bedside. Expect more than a few fireworks in the various Dingle households as the clan closes ranks to tackle their escalating problems.

While businessman Jimmy King, shows signs of becoming an over protective parent when his long-lost son Eliot, who recently came to live with him, starts at the village school. After just an hour Jimmy returns to collect him much to the annoyance of his wife Nicola who thinks she is spoiling him.

Deborah Hardiman