Emmerdale confirms

Emmerdale spoilers: Ned Porteous confirms Joe Tate’s death as he says goodbye

Emmerdale fans have held onto the slightest, tiniest hope that Joe Tate might still be alive after that shocking turn of events in Emmerdale but departing actor Ned Porteous has confirmed that his suave character is indeed dead as he exits the soap for good.

Joe had returned to the village after Graham Foster urged him to leave as Kim wanted him dead. But not able to turn his back on Debbie, Sarah, Noah and indeed Graham himself, Joe revealed he couldn’t do it and arrived back at Home Farm.

In the meantime, Kim had seen the messages and had given Graham no choice but to finish Joe off once and for all. Armed with a gun, Graham headed out of the estate only to be stopped by Cain who wanted to know where Joe had gone after jilting Debbie.

At that point, Joe rocked up but before he could say a word, Cain had floored him with a punch. Unfortunately, Joe fell with such force that his head crashed off a rock. But what Cain doesn’t know is that the altercation hadn’t quite killed Joe.

His hand twitched while Graham was getting rid of the body at the viaduct and this forced him to seal Joe’s final fate before breaking down in tears.

Here, Ned reveals all on his shock exit from the soap:

So that was dramatic and unexpected – is that your character Joe Tate dead and gone?

Yes and such a lot happened in those last episodes. You saw Cain strike Joe to the ground. Joe therefore took a very serious wound to the head it initially appeared he was dead and Graham appeared to think so too, up until that pinnacle moment when his finger twitched in the car, so that blow to the head on the rock didn’t actually kill him. However, Graham knew he had to get rid of Joe. It looks like he was the one that ultimately ended Joe but Cain unwittingly thinks it was him who killed him. Will Cain take the fall for it?

How did it feel filming those last scenes?

It was tremendously exciting filming all of this last bit to the story as there had been a lot of build up to this point. We knew the course of this storyline for a good deal of weeks beforehand, so we had a lot of time to emotionally prepare for what was going on in the scripts. But I think I personally just focused on the work and concentrated on just producing some really good final scenes.

I don’t suppose I really had thought too much about the fact I was actually going to be leaving and maybe I wasn’t quite emotionally prepared – but everyone was just so bloody lovely on my last day, it was a little emotional.

So what are your plans now you have left?

I want to move back to London and I want to do a bit of travelling. I haven’t had a holiday for a very long time so I’m desperate first to get out to America, I’ve got management out there so I want to try my hand with the American casting system and then go on a little holiday, I think, I will turn my phone off, go climbing, go camping, go fishing.

Was it fun playing Joe Tate? During your time on the show you had some massive twists, the first being Tom Waterhouse…

This was the thing, as I feel like I had a chance to play two characters whilst I was on Emmerdale. Firstly, I had the Tom Waterhouse character and then the big reveal of the pseudonym. So yes, I suppose Joe managed to pack a lot of drama in during his short time in the village!

Do you love the twists and keeping the secrets from the audience?

That is one of the best things about working in a recurring drama like a soap. The fact there are so many little twists and turns constantly which keep the characters and the storylines so fresh.

It’s fun on Emmerdale to get the new script in and and go “oh wow what are we going to be doing this week?” Plus trying to keep it all as much as a secret as possible as that is what the viewers want, they want the surprise, they want the drama.

So was it hard keeping your exit a secret?

Yes and no. Of course people are always stopping you and asking you what is going on in your storyline. It is one of the main things about working on a show like this that you are constantly keeping your storyline secret. I think it’s for the benefit of everyone. It just becomes part of what you do and it becomes quite easy.

Did you take a souvenir, a prop or a bit of costume when you left?

I actually didn’t take anything in the end however I did have my eye on a few bits of costume I wanted to grab. Due to the last couple of days being spent working away on location I didn’t have time to organise it. I ended up just filming the scenes then saying my goodbyes to everyone. I then moved my stuff and moved down to London. Thankfully a few of the cast got me some really lovely thoughtful going away gifts so I will be able to keep them forever and cherish them. So that was really nice.

Have you got fond memories of your time on the show or is there one particular day of filming you will always cherish?

Without sounding cheesy, there are so many. I suppose the most memorable are when we had the opportunity to do something so different. One of the most memorable was when we did the quarry cliff stunt out at Chorley, that was two amazing days as it felt really different. We were away from normal Emmerdale and were out on location. We were all staying together at a hotel and it felt like we were all on a sort of action filled school trip. That was so much fun. It has been amazing to film things like that.