Emmerdale businessman Jai Sharma must face the reality of his double life next week as Rachel Breckle goes into premature labour.

Jai is horrified when Rachel (Gemma Oaten) suddenly starts experiencing contractions and has to be rushed to hospital, but he knows that he can't get involved in the situation without wife Charity (Emma Atkins) discovering his secret.

Feeling helpless as his baby may not pull through, will Jai be able to cope with the mess he finds himself in?

Here, Chris Bisson - who plays Jai - reveals his take on next week's big episodes.

How is Jai feeling about Rachel's pregnancy at the moment?
"It's been very, very difficult and stressful trying to keep the truth about Rachel's pregnancy under wraps. Obviously Jai has put himself in an extremely difficult position and it's now starting to unravel for him."

What happens when Rachel goes into premature labour?
"Jai is very much under pressure throughout this whole period and he's facing the consequences of leading a double life. He's very worried about Rachel, but he's also very worried about his relationship with his wife Charity!

"It kicks off on the day of the auditions for the nativity play. Jai arrives to watch Noah and when he opens the door to the church, Rachel and Charity are in the middle of a blazing row about the play. At the end of that, Rachel starts to feel twinges and goes into labour very prematurely.

"Charity doesn't help matters because she says, 'This is so early that it's dangerous'. So Jai immediately starts panicking and it's very traumatic for him. Rachel breaks down, an ambulance comes and she gets taken away in it."


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Does Jai find a way to be there for Rachel?
"Well, obviously he can't go with her, so Ruby goes with her and Sam is left hanging around. Jai then thinks on his feet and says that he'll give Sam a lift, which means that he can get away from Charity and manage to get himself to the hospital.

"Because Jai and Sam explain that they're not relatives, the hospital refuses to give them any information. Obviously Jai can't blow his cover, so he can't get any information whatsoever from the hospital."

Is it difficult for Jai to hide his panic and not arouse suspicion?
"Jai manages to hide his panic quite well at first, but he finds it more difficult when he's at the hospital with Sam. Sam is trying to send Jai home because he doesn't really need to be there anymore, but Jai obviously doesn't want to go. At the same time, though, he doesn't want to hang around too much in case he makes people suspicious.

"The situation runs on for a few episodes, because Jai is constantly badgering people for information on Rachel and the baby. He calls Dan into the office at the factory and also tries to get hold of Ali. Basically, he wants to get hold of anyone who could give him some news. But Rishi keeps warning him that he's at risk of blowing his cover."

How does Jai react when he finds out that the baby has arrived?
"When he finds out, he has mixed emotions. He's elated that the baby has been delivered safely, but he knows that the situation is still critical and he's extremely frustrated that he can't be there.

"Later, there's a point where Rishi comes into the factory and reveals that Rachel's baby is a little boy. That's the first that Jai has heard of it. So all the way through it's second-hand information for him, because he can't be at the hospital and he can't see the baby."

Did you feel sorry for Jai when filming the scenes?
"Well, it's a very, very difficult position, because Rachel isn't answering her phone and Rishi is telling him to stay away. In some ways, you feel for him because he can't see his son and doesn't know whether the baby is going to survive or not.

"But on the other hand, it was always going to be this way. Jai has tried to play this game and keep it all a secret, so this is the price that he has to pay for that. He's been incredibly selfish because he wants to keep his marriage with Charity, but he also wants to keep the baby. Those two scenarios are really incompatible!"

Does there come a point where Charity realises that Jai is behaving strangely?
"Yes, Jai needs a cover story in the end, because he's absolutely going crazy and Charity knows that something is wrong. Charity thinks that he might be having an affair, so eventually Rishi has to intervene and tells her that Jai is still upset about her not wanting to have a baby.

"Charity can't take it anymore - she can't live with the pressure of Jai wanting a baby. She makes it clear that she's never, ever going to have a child for him. In some ways, this makes Jai realise why he wanted Rachel to keep his baby in the first place. If it was left to Charity, he'd never have a son. But obviously his behaviour is very deceitful."

Does Charity believe Rishi's cover story?
"I think she does believe the cover-up, because they've argued about this so many times before. In an ideal world, Jai wouldn't have ended up in a marriage without having discussed whether they were going to have a kid in the future. But it's a soap and that's not how things work out!

"In the end, it's one lie after another and each one compounds the last. Personally, I have no idea how Jai could possibly live through something like this! The pressure he's under is absolutely unbelievable and unbearable."


Jai finally gets a chance to meet his baby in the end, doesn't he?
"He does, as Rachel finally responds to him. But she says that this is the first and last time Jai is ever going to see baby Archie, which completely breaks his heart. The one thing that Jai wanted was a child, and now he's got one, he can't have it. He didn't see that one coming!"

What will happen next to Jai?
"He'll probably go on a downward spiral. Jai is absolutely at his wits' end. It's chaos and he's in absolute turmoil. He's being horrible to everybody because he can't see his son.

"Jai does think about coming clean. He tries and fails, and there's a few times where he's about to tell Charity. But for one reason or another, it doesn't happen!"