8 questions that still need answering after Emmerdale's whodunnit week
Pierce was the killer, so what are the other suspects hiding?
So now we know - Graham Foster was murdered not by any of the many villagers with axes to grind that were sharpened over the last few weeks as Emmerdale propelled towards their much-hyped whodunnit, but by returning villain Pierce Harris who's reappearance was held back to maximise surprise value.
Putting aside whether this counts as a genius twist or a big old cheat, it does leave us with plenty of juicy questions about what the 'official' line-up of suspects got up to on the night Graham was despatched. The five 'point of view' episodes, in which we saw Graham's final hours from the perspective of assorted characters, all ended with everyone looking guilty - not of killing Graham, but for other reasons entirely.
- Emmerdale confirm Graham’s killer as Pierce Harris in unexpected return
- Who is Emmerdale’s Pierce Harris? All you need to know about Graham Foster’s killer
As events unfold to, hopefully, explain the gaps, (which probably means even more flashbacks…), here are the burning questions that need answering:
1. Will Kim and Al double cross each other?
Al Chapman is claiming to Kim Tate he followed her orders and did Graham in as requested, but Mrs T was clearly regretting the hit on her husband (it's complicated) while she waited for news the deed had been done. We predict when the body is unearthed she'll turn on her sidekick and dob him in, putting Al behind bars for a crime he didn't actually commit. Or if the finger points at Al he could put the blame on Kim and say he was only doing what he was told…
2. How long was Jai unconscious for and where did that blood come from?
The stressed Mr Sharma crashed out in a cocaine-fuelled haze en route to having it out with Graham for exposing his drug taking to his family, then woke up an indeterminate amount of time later in a field to find his hands covered in blood. Was it the field near the woods of death? As to who's blood it is, next week Jai discovers he may have attacked Jimmy King the night of Mr Foster's demise. What could they have been fighting about?
3. What happened to the files that could bring down the Tates?
Andrea begged Graham to team up against the Tate clan when she thought Jamie and Kim were going to take Millie from her, but just as her husband started to thaw he learnt she'd been given incriminating info that could destroy the fiendish family. Evidence of dodgy dealings amassed by Graham over years of working for Kim was handed to Andrea before she had a change of heart - but where are the damning files now? Has Andrea still got them? Did Pierce pinch a memory stick out of his victim's pocket?
4. Where did Andrea go?
Talking of Andrea, she knocked back the booze after Graham scuppered any hope of a martial reunion and stumbled out in the dead of night - at the time we thought we knew where she was off to, and that the blood she was covered in by the end of her point of view episode was Graham's, but that now seems unlikely. Unless she found Graham's body and left him to rot, then felt bad about it. Or she bumped into Jai Sharma and they both beat up Jimmy King for some reason.
5. Why was Jamie looking so scared in his car?
It looked as if Jamie had mown down Graham when the marked man was knocked over by a speeding car, only for Friday's tell-all instalment to seemingly confirm Pierce was the driver. Yet Jamie was seen on the night in question in the driver's seat of a parked car looking very shaken and full of remorse - but for what?
6. What did Charity and Ryan do that left them 'no regrets’?
Graham locked her son in a shed and made her miss her own wedding, so Charity Dingle's murderous motives were pretty strong. She may be ruled out of one crime, but the ambiguous ending to her own episode saw her and Ryan somewhere in the village in the dead of night furtively discussing what they'd been up to - crucially, Charity asked him if he had any regrets, to which he said no. Regrets about what? Have they killed someone else? Did Charity and Vanessa have a secret wedding in that shed officiated by an Elvis impersonator?
7. Will any of the suspects try and frame each other?
There was so much scurrying around in dark woodland it was hard to keep track of everyone's whereabouts, especially with all the stylistic cutting between locations. It's entirely feasible some characters may have spied others doing dodgy things in the distance, so when Graham's corpse is found someone could come forward with an a eye-witness statement about seeing a fellow suspect acting strangely near where the stiff is discovered. Especially if it takes the heat of their own nefarious actions…
8. Why was it so foggy?
We don't mind a bit of moody, brooding atmosphere and a touch of sinister smoke to add to the effect, but all that fog was making it hard to figure out what was going on. Was it forecast? Did anyone else have to turn the contrast up?
Visit our dedicated Emmerdale page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.
