It’s been a busy week of news involving Soapland’s biggest villains, with new updates dropping on what the future holds for Emmerdale’s Tom King and Coronation Street’s Joel Deering.

Plenty of cast changes have also been hitting the headlines, with the sad news that some familiar faces will be leaving our screens soon.

Elsewhere, both Australian soaps are planning to kill off characters in the near future – but the secretive Neighbours and Home and Away bosses are leaving us to guess who’s being shown the door.

Did you miss any news this week? Here’s our weekly Sunday guide to the biggest soap headlines.

Emmerdale’s domestic abuse storyline has taken a short break from our screens recently, with Belle King currently away visiting her family in Scotland.

However, new spoilers have revealed that the story will be revisited from next Wednesday (August 14), as evil Tom prepares for his estranged wife’s homecoming.

Once Belle is back in the village, Tom tries every trick he can think of to manipulate her into reconciling with him. He’s surprised when Belle shows her strength by standing firm, making it clear that she wants nothing more to do with him.

Although Tom pretends to respect Belle’s wishes, his true motivations become clear as he spies on her via some secret security feeds that he set up while she was away. Belle still has no privacy in her own home, leaving her vulnerable to Tom’s next twisted move.

Coronation Street’s Dee-Dee Bailey is clearly no fool, as this week’s episodes saw her become visibly uneasy over her fiancé Joel Deering openly lying to her.

The situation intensifies next week as Dee-Dee uncovers more examples of Joel’s deception and goes snooping around his flat, which he’d falsely claimed to have given up after moving in with her.

With Dee-Dee now getting ever closer to the truth over Joel’s guilt in the Lauren Bolton case, it’s perhaps no surprise that Calum Lill – who plays the villain – has acknowledged that the end of his story is coming.

He said this week: “I think it’s bittersweet for me as an actor. It’s getting more and more juicy, but as soon as this comes to a climax, I leave this incredible place filled with so many people I’ve come to know and love and been some of my best friends over the last 18 months.

“I’m very excited to get to the end of the story but it will be very bittersweet because it’s the most incredible place to work.”

Could Dee-Dee be the one who sparks Joel’s inevitable downfall?

Home and Away released a headline-grabbing trailer in Australia this week, warning that a fan favourite will be killed off in upcoming episodes.

Felicity Newman, Cash Newman and Irene Roberts were initially named as the three characters in danger, with each of them involved in big storylines in episodes airing Down Under recently.

Since then, though, Irene has headed off to rehab on Australian screens after relapsing back into alcohol abuse. She’s expected to be off screen for a few months, as Lynne McGranger – who plays her – has been busy with a theatre project.

With one character seemingly crossed off the list, then, it seems that there’s tragedy ahead for the Newman siblings.

The drama takes place on Aussie screens next week just as Cash and Eden Fowler celebrate their engagement, but who won’t make it through the day alive?

EastEnders finally confirmed a casting rumour this week, after fans had spotted tell-tale signs that Patsy Palmer could be back filming for the BBC soap again.

Show bosses officially announced that Patsy’s iconic character Bianca Jackson is heading back to Walford in the coming weeks. As Bianca makes her return, she’s unaware that her dad David Wicks won’t be far behind.