Fans of Emmerdale were less than impressed on Wednesday as the ITV soap waved a final goodbye to one character. The episode saw residents of the Dales gather for a memorial to the late Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter), who was murdered before his body was dumped in the lake – but the sombre event soon turned very dramatic.

Nate’s widow, Tracy (Amy Walsh) made the harsh decision to ban his dad, Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) and the rest of the rowdy family from the funeral. As a result they decided to throw their own memorial in the Woolpack pub as they all turned up suited and booted to share happier memories of the late character. Cain knocked back a couple of pints but was still feeling very tense, until silly Sam Dingle (James Hooton) accidentally spilled his drink all over him while telling an animated tale about Nate. Cain began to lighten up slightly but that’s when the atmosphere went from bad to worse.

Nate’s mother Cara (Carryl Thomas) chose that as her moment to walk in, as she wrongly believed they were laughing in the face of her late son’s murder. She snapped at Cain, nitpicking at his drinking while making him and everyone else aware that she knew about his violence towards Nate on his last day alive.

But Cain wasn’t the only person that the scorned mother took aim at. She then shamed Moira (Natalie J Robb) for her past affair with Nate and also had a pop at Caleb Miligan (William Ash) for breaking up his marriage.

She soon went to visit Tracy, as Sam followed her to explain that it was his fault that Cain was reeking of booze. That was when he learnt that the widow was getting a payout from Nate’s life insurance – further cementing the Dingles’ theory that she is behind his d3ath.

He rushed back to the pub to let Cain know what he had heard and Cain stormed over to see her, telling her that he would be at Nate’s funeral the following day, and there was nothing she could do about it.

However, as the drama unfolded, fans at home seemed to be sick of the storyline dragging on. The audience are well aware that it is actually new in-law John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth) who accidentally caused his d3ath.

Taking to X (Twitter), one fan complained: “#emmerdale yet again scriptwriters have no continuity. Tracy telling people they cannot attend the funeral of the man she wasn’t even with, she had an affair or two behind his back. It’s ridiculous.”

Another added: “Who came up with this storyline? Better question who approved it? #Emmerdale,” while a third said: “John better caught soon, this storyline is dragging and is becoming more and more ridiculous as time goes on. #Emmerdale.”