Emmerdale John's sick plan for Robert backfires - leading to Aaron twist

John Sugden continued his twisted schemes on Emmerdale on Friday night. But as the walls finally begin to close in on the villain, his latest tactic certainly backfires to a degree.

Robert Sugden was taunted by his brother and enemy John on Friday, with John cruelly messing with his head to make him seem dangerous, but also unwanted. He was trying to convince Robert that after a moment with their nephew Harry, he shouldn't be around kids, or anyone, due to him lashing out.

It comes amid Robert's mental health spiralling following his prison release, after six years locked up. He's recently revealed more about his turmoil and how prison has impacted him, while he hasn't really gone into full detail despite pleas from his loved ones to seek help.

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So when his sister Victoria Sugden asked him to care for young Harry on Friday, she completely ignored his clear discomfort. he practically begged her not to have him be childminder for the day, but she was too busy pushing for it to see he was clearly worried.

We then saw Harry and Robert in the café with Robert unable to impress the youngster, leading to his ex Aaron Dingle, John's new husband, joining them at the table. Robert begged Aaron to visit the house and help him care for Harry but he was having none of it, especially when a jealous John walked through the door, causing Aaron to rush off.

It was this scene in the café that got John targeting Robert once again, using his struggles and his spiralling mental health against him in a cruel act. As Robert stepped away, John told Harry to play his drums really loudly at home, knowing full well it could trigger Robert who is believed to be experiencing PTSD.

So Harry did this and after several pleas for him to stop he was left terrified when Robert screamed at him. The scene was worrying, but nowhere near what John claimed it to be later on in a scene with Aaron.

Not only did he manipulate Harry into believing he needed to be scared, but he also got inside Robert's head and had him believe he was dangerous. Telling him he couldn't be left alone with people having already lashed out before, we could see Robert looking troubled as he tried to process what his brother was saying.

Robert was sure the event wasn't as bad as John was making out, unaware that John was twisting the truth and manipulating him in the hope of getting rid of him for once and for all. With him planning on driving a permanent wedge between Robert and Victoria, he believed he'd done the same with Aaron.

But he was in for a surprise when this appeared to backfire, as he moaned about Robert to Aaron only to get a surprising response. Aaron asked how Robert was, clearly still caring, leaving John annoyed but Aaron downplayed it.

He continued to claim he didn't want his ex around but they had a duty to help him through his clear turmoil. Trying to reassure John, he was then seen pulling a face after that made it clear he wasn't being truthful about his thoughts on his ex, and it was clear he was worried about him.

Of course next week, spoilers have revealed Aaron ends up going to see Robert and one thing leads to another. So it seems John's desperation to keep them apart and paint Robert so badly has had the opposite effect, and if anything he's proven to the pair that their Robron spark is very much still alight.

What John also hasn't considered here is whether Harry might let slip the truth about the drums. This would alert Victoria and others that John deliberately targeted Robert, leading to his outburst.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , and Threads.