John Sugden faced the wrath of Robert Sugden tonight on Emmerdale after he goaded his relative. Robert has just returned to the village from a stint in prison and was desperate to reunite with his ex Aaron Dingle.

However, Aaron had moved on with John and Robert tried to stop the wedding to no avail. Viewers know how bad John is – having killed Nate and framed a number of disastrous events on other villagers to gain their trust.

He has been goading Robert over ‘winning’ Aaron and with Robert convinced John is bad, he said he will stop at nothing to bring John down. Tonight, he was goaded so much by evil John – and now his reaction risks trouble ahead.

In tonight’s episode, brothers Robert and John went head to head, with sister Victoria Sugden desperate to resolve their feud. Robert continued to provoke John and soon there was a big altercation. It comes as a final showdown looms for John on Emmerdale – with three characters involved.

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John and Robert don’t see eye to eye

In front of the Woolpack, the truth about Robert’s involvement in the farm break-in was revealed and no one was happy with the discovery. Aaron told Robert he needed to leave the village but John tried to convince everyone Robert needed some medical help.

When they were alone later, John goaded Robert and he lashed out, hitting John with a wrench and leaving him unconscious. He was found by a devastated Aaron and was rushed to hospital.

Will Robert end up back inside for the attack – and is his exit looming already?

Ryan Hawley, who plays Robert, previously teased there was drama and conflict ahead on Robert’s return. He said: “Rejoining the cast of Emmerdale feels fantastic. I’ve been having so much fun being back here. Oddly, more fun than I thought it was going to be, in a good way. We’ve been filming some great stuff, there’s a lot more to Robert’s return than just the value of opening the door.

“I’ve been having so much fun, everyone’s been lovely, and there are a lot of familiar faces and loads of really positive energy about the place. There’s lots of drama, lots of conflict. There’s the dilemma for Aaron and John and also his return affects so many other people in the village.”

His return to Emmerdale was kept such a secret that he was given codenames and used a secret entrance. He shared at the time: “I was given a code name of ‘Marco’, In fact I think everyone’s sick of hearing the name Marco. I’ve been using a secret entrance to get into the building and I’ve had a driver picking me up from my house and driving me to Emmerdale.

“Plus most of my scenes have even been scheduled in the village so that I wouldn’t run the risk of bumping into people and it getting out. There’s so much effort that’s gone into it. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t tell my family or friends. Just fairly recently, I said, “it’s Ryan, I play Robert” and the security guard said “what’s your code name.” I said, “Marco.” And then he let me in!”