‘Gruesome’ Emmerdale branded too dark with viewers left suffering anxiety

Joe’s storyline took an incredibly dark twist (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale became ‘Horrordale’ this week, with the ITV soap airing genuinely terrifying scenes of Ruby Miligan (Beth Cordingly) waking up in a coffin, having been buried alive on the orders of Joe Tate (Ned Porteous).

Now, I’d say it’s a pretty fair bet that if you asked a large group of people what their biggest fears are, you’d hear ‘being buried alive’ more than once; in fact, it even has a name: taphophobia.

It’s a genuinely terrifying prospect and som...