EMMERDALE’s Eric Pollard broke down in heart-wrenching scenes as his Parkinson’s battle worsend.
During the episode Brenda (Lesley Dunlop), Jacob (Joe-Warren Plant) and Leyla (Roxy Shahidi) were decorating the Christmas tree.
The quartet were all enjoying themselves when Eric (Chris Chittell) suffered a tremor.
As Brenda enquired about Jacob’s new girlfriend, the camera focused on Eric as he attempted to pick up a precious ornament.
He tried to flex his hand muscles as he handled the ceramic charm before he slowly got up from the sofa where he was perched.
Moving towards the Christmas tree, he suddenly stopped after he dropped the china decoration.
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The Father Christmas model was snapped in two as Brenda realised the severity of her situation.
Trying to cover up her partner’s awkward blunder, she declared to the group: “Sorry, I did that!”
Jacob and Leyla looked on in both concern and confusion as he tried to reassure his grandfather.
“It doesn’t matter,” declared Jacob as Brenda vowed to fix the item after her ‘butter fingers’ debacle.
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After his mum told him not to tell his father about the decoration, the worry was written all over his face.
Later, Eric and Brenda made their way into the shop as she asked her partner to describe what happened.
Eric said: “I was sitting on the sofa, doing nothing. My arms down like this.”
Jacob burst into the room to check up on the duo as he asked to be ‘filled in’ on what really happened.
Brenda tried her best to deflect away from the situation as she enquired about his new girlfriend.
But Eric was quick to interject as he confessed to breaking the Santa ornament as Brenda also revealed that he previously had a tremor.
As both of the pair declared notes about telling Jacob the full story, he aid he was glad the pair revealed more than they wanted to originally share.
“I’m really glad you did speak up because it’s important that we’re honest,” he stated.
Eric retorted: “Right, well, in the spirit of that, I didn’t go to the support group.”
But Brenda already knew this as she noted that her partner was a “terrible liar.”
“I was trying to protect you!”, he urgently noted. “And I was trying to protect you in the cafe when you were talking absolute rubbish,” she quickly responded.
At the end of tonight’s Emmerdale, he added: “One in a million, I just sat in the car and cried.
“I’m not ready, I’m not ready for this, please don’t be cross with me.”
She emotionally replied: “Oh Eric, I could strangle you sometimes”, as the duo shared a long heart-rending hug.
As the episode came to an end, fans couldn’t help but take to social media as they got emotional at the wrenching scenes.
One said: “Eric needs all the support he can get.”
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Another fan declared: “So happy that Eric and Brenda are being honest with each other. Bless them.”
“Oh Eric, bless him”, posted a third.
