Arthur Thomas (Alfie Clarke) was at the centre of village gossip in tonight’s Emmerdale after accidentally allowing people to believe he had slept with John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth).
The teenager developed a crush on the village newcomer following his return from travelling around Australia, where he claimed to have left a trail of broken hearts.
Despite the age difference and John’s indifference towards him, Arthur decided to convince himself that he was in with a shot.
On Friday last week, Arthur seized an opportunity to spend more time with John and ask questions about his van at the garage, where his friend April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) spotted him.
When she later confronted Arthur asking if he’d had sex with John, Arthur did nothing to deny this – but his mother Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) overheard their conversation and was immediately on the warpath.
Setting off to The Woolpack, she called out John in front of a pub full of punters, claiming he’d taken advantage of her son.
A horrified John did what he could to try and get Arthur to admit he’d lied about them having sex, but the teen refused, instead lashing out at his mum for sleeping with Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin).
In tonight’s episode, Laurel and Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) were still under the impression John and Arthur had slept together. Noticing how out of hand the situation had become, the young man confessed he had lied.
In the café, Nicola sat with Arthur and wanted to know why he had risked damaging John’s reputation. He admitted he wanted to feel more mature and grown up, but really didn’t think his comments would have such a negative impact.
Nicola told Arthur that if he wants to feel more mature, he should go and apologise to John. And so he did.
A while later, Laurel found John at The Hide and apologised on behalf of her son as well. Just as he left, Charles arrived and told Laurel he didn’t want to continue their fling now most of his parishioners know.
Laurel looked disappointed but was civil with Charles. Back at home though, her emotions were projected onto Arthur as she snapped about him not thinking about the consequences of his actions.
Arthur was left quite surprised at his mum’s anger towards the situation. Will the teen learn from this experience?
