The truth is revealed in Tuesday’s hour-long episode, which is available for early streaming on ITVX.

Viewers have seen Manpreet’s world turned upside-down since someone started tormenting her with nasty messages over her decision to run an Only Fans-style page with adult content.

Manpreet has since closed her account, but the unknown individual is still threatening to ruin her medical career by releasing pre-saved screenshots from the page.

In Tuesday’s episode, Manpreet arranges to meet with the blackmailer to hand over money to guarantee their silence.

Manpreet is furious when Joe Tate shows up, but he firmly denies being the person who’s trying to extort money from her. Instead, he promises to support Manpreet by paying off the blackmailer for her – which, of course, is all too good to be true.

Just when it seems that Manpreet’s woes are nearing an end, viewers see that she has fallen into a clever trap.

Joe is revealed to have engineered the blackmail texts after all, wanting to sneakily befriend Manpreet as part of his bigger agenda.

Fans can see exactly what Joe has in mind for Manpreet when the episode airs at 7pm tonight on ITV1, or right now on ITVX.

Last night, Emmerdale revealed that Joe has chronic kidney disease. The condition is so serious that he is being treated with dialysis, and is hoping to arrange a transplant.

Joe is in cahoots with dodgy Dr Crowley and recently schemed to get his half-brother Noah Dingle tested as a potential match in a private hospital.

Noticing that Joe looked worse than ever, Crowley complained last night: “This is what happens when you fly back from Dubai, against my advice.

“Joseph, you have chronic kidney disease. You’re paying me to keep you alive. The least you can do is meet me half-way.”