Emmerdale spoilers: Cathy Hope destroyed as Bob fails to believe crucial detail of Heath’s death

The New Year’s Eve car crash saw Heath die (Picture: ITV)

The aftermath of the terrible car crash on New Year’s Eve started to play out in Emmerdale in Wednesday (January 3) night’s episode, as the villagers tried to come to terms with the death of young Heath Hope (Sebastian Dowling).

While Brenda (Lesley Dunlop) was naturally grieving Heath’s death, she was also trying her best to support Cathy (Gabrielle Dowling), who was staying with her. Crucially, Brenda believed Cathy when she told her that she hadn’t been driving at the time of the fatal crash – Angelica King (Rebecca Bakes) had been behind the wheel.

Meanwhile Angelica was keeping quiet about what happened, out of shock and fear of what might happen to her.

Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) made this easier for her as she tends to take over and kept insisting that Angelica had done nothing wrong. It was much simpler for her daughter just to keep silent.

Since the crash Bob (Tony Audenshaw) had been at the hospital, refusing to leave until he’d seen Heath’s body and said goodbye, and refusing to have anything to do with Cathy.

Brenda persuaded him to talk to his daughter. She insisted that Cathy was telling the truth and hadn’t been driving when the crash happened. ‘You’re her dad, Bob. She needs you,’ she told him.

When Bob laid eyes on Cathy his natural instincts as a dad took over and he hugged her tightly, telling her, ‘I’m here now.’ He tried to reassure her that when he’d seen Heath at the hospital he’d looked ‘peaceful.’ And when Cathy reiterated that Angelica was driving, Bob believed her.

Bob has been trying to make sense of the devastating events (Picture: ITV)

He decided to go and see Nicola and Jimmy (Nick Miles), and with Wendy (Susan Cookson) cautioning him not to ‘start a war’ with the Kings, Brenda said she’d go with him.

Nicola had previously spoken to April (Amelia Flanagan), who confirmed that she’d seen Cathy get in the driver’s seat of the car and drive away. This was enough to convince her that there was no way her daughter could have been driving – ignoring the possibility that the two girls had switched over at some point on the journey.

So when Bob suggested that Angelica could have been driving, Nicola was adamant – she wasn’t having Angel ‘falsely accused.’ She told Bob and Brenda that April backed up Angelica’s story.

Cathy has tried to tell people that Angelica was driving the car (Picture: ITV)

Brenda was still wholeheartedly on Team Cathy and told them that she wouldn’t lie. Jimmy replied that neither would Angelica and it seemed to be stalemate until Nicola brought up Cathy’s troubled past.

Cathy has been diagnosed with PMDD, a disorder which has led to her having bouts of anxiety, anger and disruptive behaviour which has sometimes put her in danger.

‘Look at what she’s like,’ Nicola told them. ‘She’s been out of control for months and now Heath’s dead and you want someone else to blame. Cathy made a mistake – a terrible, tragic mistake.’

And, devastatingly for Cathy if she is telling the truth, Bob backed down. He said that Nicola was right and Cathy was lying again.

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Although Brenda is clearly going to stand by her, how will Cathy cope when she realises her dad thinks she caused her twin brother’s death and then tried to lie about it?

Unless Angelica admits the truth, it looks like there’s no way back for Bob and Cathy, and even when the truth does emerge, the trust between them might have been destroyed forever.

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Bob isn’t listening.