Apparently, all of that on-screen chemistry between Ned Porteous and Olivia Bromley in Emmerdale has extended off-screen, too!
Their characters, toxic toff Joe Tate and perennial underdog Dawn Taylor, were due to marry in August, despite the machinations of a clutch of villagers, determined to destroy their happiness and tear them apart for good.
Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) allied with Caleb and Ruby Miligan (William Ash and Beth Cordingly) to turn Dawn against Joe and facilitate her fleeing the village alongside Billy, though at the very last minute, she realised that she’d fallen for an incredibly elaborate scheme and turned back.
Finally making it to the wedding marquee, she reaffirmed her love for Joe and it seemed like they’d perhaps get their happily ever after – until Jimmy King’s (Nick Miles) smashed into them.
Dawn appeared to be on the mend, giving birth to their son and discussing plans for the future with Joe, but it ultimately wasn’t to be; she slipped out of consciousness and ultimately died in hospital, tearing the still-beating heart from Joe’s chest and setting him on a path of abject darkness with an unquenchable thirst for vengeance.
Seriously, abject darkness probably isn’t a strong enough term; Joe personally orchestrated the burial of a very-much alive Ruby, before taunting her drugged husband Caleb as she slowly and painfully suffocated under ground, rescued only by the timely intervention of Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough).
According to an Emmerdale source, though, their story didn’t end when Dawn kicked the bucket, it just simply moved off-screen!
‘The on-screen chemistry between Olivia and Ned was there for everyone to see, but what the viewers don’t know is they were actually a real life couple off screen while acting out sex scenes,’ the source told The Sun.
‘It was easy for them to get away with it because they were working so closely together; a few people clocked what was going on and they both admitted that they were seeing where things go, but it’s been a good few months now and they couldn’t be happier.
‘Ned has done a great job of playing the grieving fiancé, and it’s easy to understand why now that his real life relationship with Olivia has come to light.’
Olivia spoke exclusively to Metro upon her exit, confessing: ‘I’m not going to lie, I’d have preferred her to stay alive!’
‘I was so excited to go out and do other things and spread my wings, as an actor, after eight years, it’s important to be able to embrace new challenges, I’ve felt.
‘But I wouldn’t have killed her off if it was my choice, I’d have loved to have been able to play her in the future, but this is the thing about being an actor; the producers make decisions, they’ve got this great story, and when we talked about it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s so tragic!’
‘But also, in a way, it’s exciting because I knew when we were talking about the story that it means I can’t come back – or can I? Who knows? I mean, Graham came back! Maybe I’ll come back as Dawn’s twin or something.
‘But it also meant that I was like, ‘Okay, this is a big bang exit, and it means that I can go out and embrace new challenges fully and not have that in the back of my mind.”
Joe continues to spew his grief-induced vitriol across the village, breaking the heart of both father figure Graham and step-grandma Kim Tate (Claire King) by insisting on the adoption of his baby.
While they’ve managed to pull the wool over his eyes and hide the baby alongside Graham in a secluded cottage, Joe’s continuing to target the Miligans.
He’s forged an unholy alliance with uber-bitch Sadie King (Patsy Kensit), with her seemingly all in with his scheme to annihilate the Miligan family.
With two characters as immoral as Joe and Sadie, though, surely a betrayal is on the horizon?
Still, it’s nice to know that Ned is having a nicer time off screen than Joe is having on it!