Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) has certainly proved he’s a loyal best friend to Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) in Emmerdale.

A few weeks ago, Mack discovered John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) had lied about Aidan Moore being dead. He immediately set about telling Aaron, and was adamant his BFF shouldn’t marry a man he barely knows.

Outside the flat, Mack stood beside the door and refused to let John in. He tried to tell him to leave the village and never return, but Mack isn’t aware of what John is capable of – he wasn’t going to give up easily.

John’s plan was to attack Mackenzie in an act of revenge, but things went wrong when he hit Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) by mistake. Quick-thinking John then manipulated the situation in his favour, pretending to race in and save Liam in front of a thankful Aaron and Chas (Lucy Pargeter).

It wasn’t what he intended, but the event that unfolded was enough for Aaron to move past John’s lies about Aidan and get back on track.

Mackenzie remains at the centre of Emmerdale drama over the next few months, as show boss Laura Shaw has confirmed he will be part of a ‘big week of episodes’ alongside Aaron.

Teasing what’s ahead, she said: ‘We’ve got big stuff for Aaron and Mackenzie towards the end of summer into autumn. We’ve got a big week of episodes planned there that is going to be life-changing for those two. We’ve still got that flashforward from New Year to pay off – we haven’t forgotten about that – that might happen then, you’ll have to wait and see.

‘We’re in the process of building a new set for that week and I’ve just read the first drafts of the script, and I have to say they’re some of the most exciting and gripping episodes I’ve read in a long time. I can’t wait to see what comes with that.’

Also dropping a few spoilers about John and Aaron’s wedding, Laura revealed: ‘We’ve got a wedding coming up – Aaron and John. I’ve just signed off on those episodes in the edit suite and they’re very brilliant and exciting.

‘John is full of trepidation heading into his wedding, worrying about all of the secrets that might get exposed along the way. The wedding plays out across the whole week – Monday to Friday is one week – we have some stylistic fun in there such as John’s nightmares.

‘We’ve got Aidan in a coma, and I can tell you he’s not going to be in that coma forever. What secrets could he bring with him? Is he going to walk in and ruin the wedding?’

She added: ‘Equally, we know that Nate’s body is still in that lake, and we won’t stay there forever. When John finds out the lake is being dredged, will he make it to his vows?