Nicola Wheeler reveals to Soaplife how Nicola’s got stuck in a dangerous game with creepy Steve in Emmerdale - and he keeps changing the rules!
Nicola’s sorry she ever got involved with Steve, isn’t she?
"She feels really disorientated by him. One minute, he makes a salacious comment and she thinks he’s making a pass, the next, he tells her he was joking. She’s never sure if she’s being paranoid or not. She doesn’t want to be around him any more, but then he asks Jimmy and her to come to dinner with him and Bernice."
What happens then?
"It doesn’t go well. All day Nicola tries to come up with excuses to cancel, but Jimmy insists that they’re going. Nicola has to pretend that everything is OK for Bernice’s sake, even though he makes a comment about the restaurant that he took Nicola to."
Does Bernice suspect anything?
"Not of Nicola, but Steve’s comments start to make Bernice think that he’s seeing somebody else and Nicola ends up comforting her."
Why doesn’t Nicola just tell Jimmy she took £10k from Steve?
"Because she has lied to everyone including Jimmy. She told him that Angelica got a scholarship for the school and that’s a whopping great lie. She knows that Jimmy would say, ‘No man loans a woman £10k for nothing.’"
But this is also about Nicola not being happy with happy-go-lucky Jimmy…
"It is. She wanted to reignite the fire in Jimmy, but he’s happy to meander along and that’s why she couldn’t resist Steve’s proposition. She wants nothing but the best for their daughter, but Jimmy was happy to send Angelica to the local school."
What does Nicola plan to do about Steve now?
"She’s panicking and thinking that she’ll have to tell Jimmy because she can’t continue with things the way they are with Steve any more."
Could this destroy Nicola’s marriage?
"Nicola likes a bit of excitement and Jimmy has to give her that otherwise she will find it herself. This will drive a huge wedge between Nicola and Jimmy. I hope they stay together - viewers love them as a couple. I think also, thanks largely to Jimmy, Nicola has changed. For the first time ever, a fan stopped me and said, 'Nicola’s not a bitch any more' and I was so glad somebody had noticed!"
