Q&A: 'Emmerdale' star Nicola Wheeler

Emmerdale's Nicola King faces a distressing mystery in next week's episodes when her husband Jimmy disappears in strange circumstances. While viewers are about to see Kelly Windsor knock Jimmy unconscious and abandon him following an argument in Peterborough, Nicola has no idea about his recent meetings with his former fiancée and is sick with worry when he fails to return home. As the days progress, Nicola is forced to consider the possibility that Jimmy has another woman, before events take a more disturbing turn… Here, actress Nicola Wheeler - who plays Nicola - discusses the storyline in a quick Q&A.

What does Nicola think when Jimmy goes missing?
"She thinks he's sulking because they've been rowing a lot because they're planning on having another baby. Nicola doesn't think Jimmy has been around a lot, and obviously he needs to be there for the crucial thing to happen! Jimmy goes off one night on a last-minute job, and the next morning he leaves very early on a run, saying he'll be back as soon as he can. But as the day goes on, Nicola tries to call Jimmy and he doesn't answer."

What happens next?
"She goes round to Carl's and he says he hasn't been able to get hold of him either. So when another night goes by, Nicola starts to panic."

Carl also receives some mysterious calls, doesn't he?
"That's not until a bit later, when Jimmy has been missing for a few days. Carl gets a call from a woman who simply says, "Sorry". But Nicola doesn't find out about this until later on. Carl goes to the police and reports it and they take his details down. But the police aren't hugely concerned - Jimmy is a grown man and there isn't anything suspicious yet."

Then Declan has an idea…
"Declan suggests that Nicola checks her joint bank account with Jimmy to see if he's taken any money out. Nicola discovers that Jimmy made a withdrawal of £500 on the day he disappeared from Peterborough. Nicola is immediately suspicious - she doesn't know what's going on."

What happens when the police call Nicola?
"The police ring and tell Nicola that they've found Jimmy's van in Peterborough. Nicola knows she can't just sit around and do nothing - there's definitely some suspicions that Jimmy may have gone off with another woman, but that's more what other people are saying to Nicola. She picks up on these comments, and it starts to make her wonder what's going on. Nicola starts to think the worst, so she asks Carl to go with her down to Peterborough."

How does it go?
"They meet the police and give them a picture of Jimmy. The police make some leaflets and they help hand them out, and they go door-to-door asking if anyone has seen Jimmy. Nicola also sets up an ad in the paper, but she ends up getting weird calls from it! Nicola is doing everything she can to find Jimmy - the only hope she is clinging to is if Jimmy had gone off with someone else then he would at least have had the decency to call her and tell her what he was doing, if not for her sake then for Angelica's. Nicola is trying to rationalise things in her head, and she really doesn't think Jimmy would have deserted her for another woman."

Jimmy's van is where he had the altercation with Kelly, but now there's no sign of him. What do the police discover inside?
"His cab is blood stained, but the police don't know yet whether the blood belongs to Jimmy or not. Nicola is told she'll have to wait until the test results come through to know whether the blood is Jimmy's. Nicola is left facing an agonising wait to find out the truth…"

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