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Emmerdale's Ruby Miligan rescued from deadly situation by unexpected resident in early ITVX release

Warning: Contains spoilers for Tuesday's episode of Emmerdale, which airs at 8pm on ITV1 or can be streamed now on ITVX.

Ruby, buried alive, in a scene from Emmerdale

ITV

Published: Tuesday, 22 September 2026 at 12:44 pm

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Ruby Miligan (Beth Cordingly) woke up to find she'd been buried alive in today's Emmerdale.

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The cruel plot had been enacted by Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), who was desperate to avenge his late fiancé Dawn Fletcher's (Olivia Bromley) death.

Ruby and her husband Caleb (William Ash) had tried to help her flee the country on her wedding day, offering accommodation and a contact who could provide fake passports. Their distaste for Joe and desire to see his downfall stems from the time he stole Caleb's kidney.

In order to convince Dawn to leave, the couple chose not to disclose the truth regarding an earlier attack on Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle).

He was assaulted by Kev Barton (Chris Coghill), but in order to paint Joe as a bad person, he'd allowed Dawn to believe that he was responsible.

Caleb stares towards Joe in a scene from Emmerdale

Ned Porteous as Joe Tate and William Ash as Caleb Miligan. ITV

The whole plot backfired when Dawn discovered their deception, but upon her return to the eponymous village to marry Joe, was caught up in a horrific car accident that caused internal bleeding. She died just hours later.

Following her funeral, a teary-eyed Joe walked to a mound of freshly dug soil. Although it seemed like this was Dawn's grave, the camera dug through layers of soil to show an unconscious Ruby buried alive.

We discovered in the latest instalment that Caleb had also fallen victim to Joe's plotting. Having been drugged, he stumbled to his feet inside of his plush apartment at The Mill and asked Joe outright where Ruby was.

The Home Farm millionaire took great joy in revealing that he didn't know if she was dead or alive. Back at the burial site, poor Ruby screamed out for help before running out of air and passing out again.

Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough) then arrived to try and reason with Joe. He said that he understood his desire to seek revenge on the Miligans, but on this occasion, he'd taken things too far.

Ruby in a coffin in Emmerdale

Beth Cordingly as Ruby Miligan. ITV

Later that day, Graham and Caleb furiously dug at the soil to save Ruby. They were mortified to see that she wasn't breathing, and Caleb quickly attempted to resuscitate his wife.

Graham could see that his efforts were proving unfruitful, and quickly took over the CPR. Suddenly, Ruby took a breath.

Will this be the end of the Miligans' war with Joe, or just the beginning of a new chapter?

Read more:

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.

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Authors

Michael Adams wearing a white t-shirt and beige gilet against a white background

Michael AdamsSoaps Editor

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

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