Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) was heartbroken in tonight’s Emmerdale as she admitted to brother Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) that she’s too unwell to continue working.
Yesterday, the sheep Moira bought for Isaac (Bobby Dunsmuir) had escaped after someone left the gate to their field open. Moira had been up there to check that the animals were OK after moving to the farm, so Mack’s conclusion was that she must have forgotten to close the gate.
Moira denied that this could be true. She’s been a farmer for a long time, and closing gates was instinctive to her. This wasn’t the main issue, though. It was that, since Moira’s brain tumour diagnosis, she’s had to come to terms with her family worrying that she can’t cope with the everyday things that she used to take for granted.
Towards the end of the episode, Isaac found his mum and admitted he might’ve accidentally forgotten to close the sheep gate before school that morning. After this, Moira believed that was the end of the matter.
In tonight’s episode, Mack and Matty (Ash Palmisciano) headed up to the field again. To Matty’s horror, he noticed most of the sheep were lying on the floor.
Once Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick) arrived, she confirmed in front of a stunned Moira, Mack, and Matty that it appears the sheep have died after ingesting black paint.
And once Matty remembered Moira talking about painting a fence earlier that day, he realised his mum was at fault.
Back at Butlers, Moira cried as she told her brother she had been trying her best to work so the brain tumour doesn’t take everything from her.
This sad development surrounding the sheep was a reminder though that Moira can’t really be left alone for very long, in case she has a seizure or does something she can no longer remember later in the day.
With no choice, Moira told Mackenzie that she would stop working.
Mack comforted his sister as she burst into tears. Moira is currently waiting for brain surgery which will hopefully get the tumour under control.
Until then, she has to come to terms with the fact the life she lived before her diagnosis won’t return for a very long time.
