Emmerdale’s Kim Tate has suffered a brutal attack in worrying scenes after Lydia Dingle’s lies put her in a tight spot.

Tonight’s (Thursday) episode saw Kim arrange a special surprise for Lydia’s birthday, booking her favourite singer, Jason Donovan, to sing in the village. “Everything needs to run like clockwork,” Kim said on the phone as Lydia walked through the door.

Lydia reminded Kim she’d agreed to help at the Christmas Fayre. Kim said it’d be “very good PR” for her, though she asked Lydia to tag along.

Lydia said she’d stay behind to finish her cleaning but, as soon as Kim left, she let Sam in.

Sam had planned a dodgy shoot at Home Farm behind Kim’s back, which is why Lydia set her up with the Christmas Fayre.

Sam and Lydia went to meet a party of hunters with their dogs, with their obnoxious leader suggesting they could do some hare coursing. When Sam pointed out it was “illegal” and “dead cruel”, the man reminded him they paid “a lot of money” to hunt there.

Lydia managed to sway them away from coursing, advising they could do pheasant shooting instead. As the party agreed and were well on their way, Lydia rushed back to whip up lunch for them before meeting Kim in the village.

Meanwhile, Kim was frantically trying to reach her. Over the phone, Lydia pretended she had some cleaning left to do, but Kim insisted she joined her at the café stat.

Later on, Sam urged the party to wrap up as Vanessa Woodfield drove past and appeared to have noticed the hunters.

Lydia finally met with Kim, who asked everyone at the café to move the party to the Woolpack. Kim’s guest of honour was revealed to be Donovan, much to everyone’s delight but Bob Hope’s, who thought he’d be the star of the show.

In shock, Lydia hid in the bathroom as Kim followed her, explaining she’d organised the gig for her after she missed Donovan’s concert.

“This is the moment you have dreamed of, Lydia. And I am so pleased to have made it happen,” Kim told her, adding that Lydia was “[her] best friend”.

“I feel really rotten now about organising the shoot,” Lydia then told Sam, who’d made it to the Woolpack.

Vanessa arrived at the pub, telling Kim she’d spotted a “dodgy” group of hunters on her land. Visibly concerned, Kim made a quick exit.

During Donovan’s encore, Belle Dingle realised Kim had gone and rang her mobile.

As the call went straight to voicemail, a gravely injured Kim struggled to reach for her phone in the forest. Who attacked her?