Emmerdale star reveals how far Dawn will go to cover up violent Joe crime

Dawn Taylor has been confirmed as Joe Tate’s attacker (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale viewers saw on Monday (May 12)’s episode that Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley) confessed that she was the one who pushed Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) out of the window at the party at Home Farm. 

As the soap villain fought for his life in hospital the police quizzed the many suspects who all had a motive to want to harm Joe. Billy (Jay Kontzle) was arrested, but was fairly quickly released when Dawn provided an alibi for him.  

When he returned to Home Farm, Dawn said she’d had to protect him because Clemmie (Mabel Addison) was in such a state. Billy assumed Clemmie had been the killer – but as he headed to talk to his daughter Dawn told him that it was her, not Clemmie, who’d pushed Joe. 

‘I would say it’s a classic crime of passion,’ Olivia Bromley told us. ‘She’s given up everything for this man that she thought was so different, then she finds out what he did to Clemmie. I think it was that moment of lioness mother power, basically.’ 

Dawn now knows the truth about Joe (Picture: ITV)

Although viewers didn’t get to see the actual push, Olivia described how she pictured the scene.  

‘How I imagine what happened is that she comes in and tries to confront him and he turns on his manipulation, and enough is enough. I think it’s an accident, a pure accident. It wasn’t like “I’m going to kill you,” it just happened,’ she theorised. 

Discovering Joe’s true nature came as a massive shock to Dawn, according to the actress.  

‘She’s finding out all this stuff about this man, slowly and surely. He’s not only a murderer but a psychopath. He’s doing things that are dangerous and she’s put her children around him and things.

Multiple people wanted to see the back of Joe (Picture: ITV)

‘He is responsible for the death of three women and I think she’s just horrified that she’s been close to this person, physically with him and everything, and she’s just like, “Oh my God, what have I done?” 

‘I always think Dawn has that slight addict brain that, when she is infatuated by something or she’s obsessed, the addict comes out and she can’t help herself and that’s the same with Joe. With that in mind, her doing the push was frustration at herself as well.’ 

If Joe dies, Dawn could face a murder charge if the police started to focus on her. Even if he survives, she could go to prison for a very long time – and there’s also the risk that a ruthless Joe will want his own retribution against her. 

Dawn dumped Billy, believing Joe was the one for her (Picture: ITV)

‘She’s got a lot to lose,’ Olivia agreed. ‘Everything she’s built, she could be in prison just like that. The biggest thing she might lose is her children if she’s been involved in a violent crime like this and potentially killed someone. She is very, very worried about losing the children.’ 

Dawn is capable of some extreme actions to ensure that her family is protected. ‘She’s in a really hard position because her children need her,’ Olivia said. ‘If she goes down that’s a nightmare for those kids. So she really wants to protect herself and her situation. 

‘I think she’ll go quite far. I think she would be very willing to protect her family and her children.’