Emmerdale’s Dawn Fletcher fears for her marriage next week after a stark warning from her lover Joe Tate.

Dawn realises that it could only be a matter of time before her husband Billy finds out that she’s been betraying him by sleeping with Joe.

The drama plays out as Joe announces some surprising plans to get away from Home Farm for a while.

Joe tells Dawn that he’s leaving because of new tensions with his step-grandmother Kim Tate, who still doesn’t trust him.

As Joe plans his departure, Kim’s recent machinations start to come to light. Warning what’s at stake, Joe confirms to Dawn that Kim knows all about their affair.

It’s a nerve-wracking time for Dawn as she realises that the future of her marriage now seemingly lies in Kim’s hands.

Kim previously promised Dawn that she’d always have her back, but bitter experience proves that she can be unpredictable.

With Dawn clearly in a precarious position, will she have to tell Billy the truth before someone else does?

Dawn and Joe started sleeping together last month after rising tensions at Home Farm.

The pair grew closer as Dawn struggled with the death of her dad Will Taylor at Christmas and briefly blamed Kim for causing the tragedy. At the time, she felt unsupported by Billy as he backed Kim in the dispute.

Meanwhile, this week’s Emmerdale episodes see Kim recruit her best friend Lydia Dingle to spy on Joe and report back to her. Thrilled by the secret mission, Lydia promises to rise to the challenge.

Kim is right to be sceptical over Joe, as the ITV soap recently revealed that he was responsible for his half-brother Noah Dingle’s frightening spiking incident. This sparked the chain of events that led to the limo crash tragedy.

A flashback scene showed Joe taking advantage of Noah’s vulnerable state by bringing him to see a doctor in a private hospital.

Joe’s motives were unclear, but his shady actions could tie in with his ongoing health scare, as he’s been struggling with mysterious symptoms for weeks.

Emmerdale airs Joe’s warning for Dawn on Monday, March 3 on ITV1 and ITVX.