Emmerdale fans shocked as Joe Tate lashes out at Graham

Emmerdale spoilers follow for the latest episode to air on ITV1 and stream on ITVX and YouTube.

Emmerdale left fans shocked with its latest episode as Joe Tate lashed out in anger at his father figure Graham Foster when the pair clashed over Joe's latest scheme.

Joe has been spiralling out of control since Dawn Foster was tragically killed on their wedding day, going so far as to bury Ruby Miligan alive in revenge. Then he decided to go ahead with an off-the-books adoption, so he can completely cut his newborn son out of his life and not deal with the guilt.

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Both Graham and Kim strongly opposed his actions, and tonight's episode saw Graham try his best to change Joe's mind.

He started off by playing a video of Dawn talking about how she was so excited to raise Joe's son with him and said turning his back on the child would be like "turning your back on her".

"If you think this changes anything, it does not. That child is still getting adopted," Joe insisted, as he continued to ignore Graham attempts to get through to him.

That didn't stop Graham from trying, but it eventually reached a point where Joe had had enough.

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He slapped Graham across the face and tried to get him to fight back. Graham stood his ground though and told Joe that he didn't recognise the man standing in front of him.

Near the end of the episode, the duo went to the hospital to see the baby. But Joe's decision remained the same, and he demanded that Graham sort out the adoption for him.

"If I do this, it will be the last thing I ever do for you," Graham replied.

Fans reacted to the tense Joe/Graham scenes online, with one writing on X: "The Graham and Joe showdown scenes at Home Farm were incredible."

"OMG!!!! Joe slapped Graham!" wrote one shocked viewer, while a third mused, "Graham should have smacked him straight back for that! #Emmerdale."

Another wrote in disbelief: "Did Joe just BITCH SLAP Graham??! #emmerdale" while another viewer speculated: "Joe could only tap Graham not punch him....love or fear....?"

Either way, could this really be the end of their relationship?

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.

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