ITV Emmerdale viewers plead 'what the hell' as Eric Pollard 'replaced'

Emmerdale viewers were taken aback by Eric Pollard's personality change in tonight's show.

Thursday's hour-long episode explored the fallout after Amy Wyatt and Matty Barton got married. The wedding was under threat in last night's show after Kerry Wyatt was told the jewel she expected to pawn to fund the ceremony was actually worthless.

However, Kerry was lied to by Eric who paid for the wedding and left the character, played by Laura Norton, in massive debt. Eric continued his ruthless streak in tonight's episode when he ordered Jai Sharma to sack Victoria Barton.

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Victoria has been in a relationship with Jacob Gallagher, who has prioritised their romance over studying in Berlin. However, Victoria decided to end their romance in tonight's episode to allow Jacob to leave the fictional Yorkshire village.

Despite Victoria's actions, Eric still insisted Jai needs to fire the character and viewers following the show on social media platform X were surprised by the soap legend's dark turn.

TVJuice said: "What is going on with evil Eric?""

Anna commented: "What the hell has got into Eric?"

Victoria posted: "What have they done to Eric all of a sudden"

However, other fans have said the sinister twist is a welcome return to the Eric of the 1990s when the character was more of a villain. Debra said: "Devious Eric is giving me jokes...welcome back Mr Pollard, we have missed you"

Simy added: "The Eric Pollard of old is back!!"

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