Emmerdale spoilers follow for Friday’s (April 18) episode that is now available to view on ITVX. The episode in question will air on ITV1 on at 7:30pm.

John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) went to great lengths to garner praise for saving Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant) life, despite the fact that it was his fault the trainee doctor nearly died in the first place.

The character, as viewers now know, has something of a hero complex, whereby he orchestrates situations by putting people’s lives in danger before swooping in last minute to play the saviour.

Unaware of his true nature, the village praised his efforts in ‘saving’ Jacob and it was quite clear that John adored the attention, lapping up all the compliments.

The Jacob incident came just weeks after John swooped in to save Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), who had been wary of him previously, after she collapsed at the Woolpack shortly after being spiked.

Chas changed her tune on John, thanking him profusely for coming to her aid, but little did she know that he was the one who spiked her, setting Ella Forster (Paula Lane) up for the crime.

But despite having got away with his crimes and having the village eating out of the palm of his hand, John is still not satisfied and thus put himself forward for an actual award.

The audacity of this guy.

In Friday’s edition of the ITV soap, John was seen informing Victoria (Isabel Hodgins), Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) and Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) that he has been nominated for Yorkshire Hero 2025.

There was a bit of confusion surrounding who put him forward but a subsequent scene saw him taking a phone call on a secret phone away from prying eyes.

Claiming to be someone that is absolutely not John, he informed the event organisers that – since they last spoke – John had saved another life, hoping this would increase his chances of winning.

The question is: will he pick up the victory? Or will he be exposed before the outcome is revealed?

Let’s not forget that John has claimed the life of Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter) after one of his twisted schemes backfired, with the farmhand’s body subsequently disposed of in a lake.