Angel delivered some home truths (Pictures: ITV)
Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) was being relentless in her pursuit of ‘justice’ against Moira Barton (Natalie J. Robb) in Monday (May 29)’s Emmerdale – even though literally nobody else supported her quest.
Nicola’s daughter Angel (Rebecca Bakes) was seriously injured in a road accident when Nicola was driving her to a dentist appointment and they collided with Moira’s vehicle at a junction. While Nicola had been stressed and distracted, she was convinced that the collision was all Moira’s fault. This was only confirmed in her mind when nephew Tom King (James Chase) told her that Moira had been up all night the night before the accident because one of her cows was giving birth.
In this episode Nicola was determined to find someone who would support her theory that Moira was to blame, since the police had already decided it was an accident and no one’s fault.
Her first stop was Liam (Jonny McPherson). She’d been researching the effects of driver fatigue and wondered if it could have been a factor. Once Liam had clarified that it wasn’t Nicola who’d been driving while tired, he said there was nothing he could do and there was ‘no real case to build.’
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Nicola is a woman with connections, though, as she never tires of reminding people. She contacted a friend who was on the highways committee of the council, hoping he could do something. Like Liam, he said there was nothing to indicate it was Moira’s fault and drove off as an increasingly desperate Nicola ranted at him in the street.
This incident was seen by Tom, who was with Nicola’s sons who were upset at the state their mum was in. When Tom talked to his aunt about it, she hinted that she was feeling guilty about the incident. Tom told her what Jimmy (Nick Miles) had been trying to tell her all day – that the most important and useful thing she could do would be to go to the hospital to be with Angel.
Eventually Nicola did just that and joined the rest of the family at the hospital.
Alone with Angel she told her daughter that she hadn’t given up on the fight for justice on her behalf. Angel may only be 14, but she has a lot of insight and she seemed to know exactly what was behind all of Nicola’s actions and reactions.
‘This is what you were like when those girls beat you up,’ she said. ‘It’s all you went on about.’
Nicola thinks that Moira is to blame (Picture: ITV)
Last year Nicola was savagely beaten up in a deserted car park by a gang of girls, which included Naomi (Karene Peter). Nicola said that the girls had deserved it too.
‘They hurt you on purpose. Moira didn’t hurt me on purpose,’ Angel insisted.
After Nicola was attacked by the girl gang she suffered from panic attacks, anxiety and agoraphobia, and Angel was scared that she could be going down the same path again.
‘You’ll make yourself ill again, having panic attacks,’ she worried. ‘Then you won’t be able to look after me.’
Angel sustained a leg injury after the crash (Picture: ITV)
These words should have been the wake-up call Nicola needed, but she dug deeper, saying she was looking after Angel by trying to get justice against Moira, who was ‘driving half asleep.’
Angel pointed out that Nicola hadn’t been concentrating either. ‘It was an accident, so will you please just drop it?’ she pleaded.
Nicola’s reply was ambiguous. ‘I’ll do what’s best for you, love. I always do.’
Will she drop her vendetta for her daughter’s sake, or will she carry on in her pursuit of Moira? And if she follows that path, could Angel be right about the effect it could have on Nicola’s mental health?
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Will Nicola listen to her daughter?
