Emmerdale's Jacob Sugden makes mammoth Dr Todd decision that he could regret in early ITVX release

Jacob Sugden (Joe-Warren Plant) has bravely spoken up after realising that Dr Caitlin Todd (Caroline Harker) is bullying him in Emmerdale.

Upon her return to the serial, Harker described her character as "complex", and said that she would be "quite a tricky one for Jacob to navigate". Over the following weeks she's proven to be wildly unpredictable, going from supporting his medical career to implying that he could never qualify.

Jacob has made a number of mistakes - from misdiagnosing Kim Tate (Claire King) to performing CPR on Todd's father, despite a do not resuscitate certificate being in place. But she's now made matters personal, moving into the village and deep-diving into his past.

Earlier this week, Jacob swapped shifts with a colleague to avoid having to work with Todd. He couldn't bear to be around her any longer, and hoped that helping out with a blood donation clinic would give him a welcome break.

However, Todd was already there, and decided to twist the knife by dropping his abuser Maya Stepney into conversation. As long term viewers will recall, Maya was Jacob's schoolteacher and Liam Cavanagh's (Jonny McPherson) ex-wife, and she used the latter as a means to bring her up.

She spoke about the "unpleasantness" that Liam had faced, and Jacob began to wonder whether she knew the full story. Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) tried to offer some reassurance, saying that his name didn't appear in any of the media coverage and therefore she couldn't know.

He went over to approach Todd and she burst into tears, saying that she didn't realise the connection and could do without the confrontation given her father had just passed away. Jacob didn't know what to say and apologised, before going to raise some concerns with Manpreet Sharma (Rebecca Sarker) in The Woolpack.

She admitted that she'd slipped up and told Todd about Maya some weeks ago. This suddenly made Jacob realise that Todd is a vicious liar and was purposely bringing Maya up.

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In today's episode, Jacob was visibly upset and Ross Barton (Michael Parr) urged him to speak up. He said that they should try and talk it out, and make things right before they got any worse.

Spotting Todd walking into Tug Ghyll, he charged over and refused to allow her to shut the door on him.

She wasn't impressed, saying that she had a meeting at the undertakers to attend.

Tensions were beginning to rise as he expressed his desire to move to another department, and when she refused to allow him to move, he knew that the matter would have to be escalated.

Despite his better judgement, he headed to Hotten General for a meeting with HR. There, he spelled out that Todd was bullying and manipulating him, and that the abuse had escalated over the last few months.

How will Todd react to the complaint?

Read more:

• Emmerdale airs heartbreaking Moira Dingle scenes as she makes sad discovery following prison release in early ITVX release
• Emmerdale airs distressing Bear Wolf scenes as new Ray Walters theory emerges in early ITVX release
• 5 Emmerdale spoilers next week: Charity Dingle undergoes a dramatic childbirth

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

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