Caleb Miligan’s (Will Ash) famous last words were him saying to Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) that Emmerdale’s Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) would never get one over on him.
Well, she does get one over – a leg, to be graphically specific, proving that Caleb is gullible, a soft touch, and not the savvy man he thinks he is.
Sadie has joined forces with Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) to destroy Caleb and Ruby (Beth Cordingly), and so far, the couple are mostly doing the work themselves.
Sadie signed up for the gig with Joe after Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) found out that Sadie had lied completely about having a relationship with Jimmy – she was only after him for his money – and Sadie found herself ostracised from the village for her horrendous crimes.
But just before the village was free of her, Joe caught her and offered her the deal of a lifetime – to get paid the money she needs to get out of destitution, while destroying Caleb and Ruby.
Actress Patsy Kensit revealed that her main motivation is jealousy – she wants what they have.
‘Sadie of old didn’t have any empathy whatsoever, but I think she genuinely wants what Ruby has and what they have as a couple, as well as the money, of course.’
So, there it is, Sadie wants to crush their marriage for financial gain and for the green-eyed monster.
She got to work immediately and befriended Ruby, then got Ruby to give her a high position in her wine business. Ruby also somehow convinced naysayer Caleb to allow Sadie to stay in their house. That woman is nothing if not a charmer, they virtually laid the groundwork for their own destruction.
Sadie has been planting the seed in Caleb’s head for weeks that Ruby is a functioning alcoholic in a bid to start creating some cracks. But after a confrontation, Ruby gave up drinking to prove she doesn’t rely on the stuff, which threw a spanner in Sadie’s plan. Now she’s left desperately trying to find a new way to derail her.
As the pressure builds, Sadie is forced to think outside the box and during a catch up over drinks, she switches hers and Ruby’s.
The next step is to set the scene by outrageously flirting with Ross Barton (Mike Parr) – who has never been known not to flirt with anyone – and ends up dancing with him. As things heat up, she switches places with a now inebriated Ruby, who thinks she’s been drinking mocktails.
Caleb arrives in time to see Ruby collapse on top of Ross and Ruby is mortified to realise she is drunk. Sadie pretends to help, but spikes Ruby further.
All that’s left for her to do is make sure Caleb knows Ruby left with Ross, her arms wrapped around him.
Caleb snaps, he’s done with his cheating wife. He plays right into Sadie’s hands and makes a quite frankly disturbing decision to sleep with the devil.
Imagine his horror the next day when he confronts Ruby only to find that she didn’t in fact spend the night with Ross, and Ruby is furious that Sadie made him believe that. But it’s done now, he’s not only cheated on Ruby, he’s cheated on her with a woman who he promised would never win. The Miligans are heading for an explosive finish.
Caleb is in a pickle. He confronts Sadie and while she tries to lie her way out of it, he quietly tells her she must leave. But Sadie’s got the gold now, it’s everything she wanted – the power to rip apart the couple that Joe Tate wants to see finished. She also has the hidden camera in the lounge, should Caleb choose to deny it. How will Sadie enact Caleb’s destruction?
The real plot twist here though is that Sadie actually feels some remorse for this task. Patsy claims that Sadie had accidentally made her first real friend in Ruby.
‘The old Sadie would just squash her like a fly,’ she says. ‘But Sadie sort of struck up a weird, good relationship with Ruby, so it’s more complicated. I can’t reveal too much, but later on we will see she’s adamant about her sorrow for hurting Ruby, and it’s genuine.’ Could that stop her telling Joe?