Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) is on hand to protect best friend Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) in Emmerdale soon as he becomes the next person to face up against Kev Townsend (Chris Coghill).

Mackenzie is still recovering after being held hostage by John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth). Earlier this year, he was kidnapped and placed in an underground bunker outside of John’s childhood home.

He was being kept alive by medicine that John was stealing from the surgery in the village.

Mackenzie Boyd is always in Aaron Dingle’s corner

In the days that followed, John told Mack time and time again that he had no intention of killing him, but he also couldn’t work out what to do with the man who knew everything about him.

Mackenzie attempted to escape at one point and got as far as a countryside road, but was thrown back in the lair after being found by John.

As John grew aware his time was running out, he paid one final visit to Mackenzie. He handed him a syringe and said he can either suffer alone, or inject himself with the drug and drift off into a deep sleep.

John headed off, and was then rushed to hospital as a result of throwing himself and Aaron off a cliff. With Aaron unconscious, no-one else knew that Mack was in trouble.

Fortunately, as soon as Aaron woke up, he confirmed that John was holding Mack hostage.

As a search began, Mack had injected himself with the syringe, his hope lost.

The bunker was discovered – but Mack wasn’t inside. This was because John had got to him first, and dumped him outside a hospital. John disappeared, and Mackenzie was treated.

In upcoming episodes, Kev watches Aaron with fury, knowing that he broke the news of his marriage.

In the café, tensions rise between Aaron and Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) but they’re distracted due to the arrival of DS Carter, who’s looking for Kev to question him about an attack on an old friend.

That evening, Aaron finds Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) in the pub and apologises, but their peace is shattered by Robert and Kev entering. To make things even worse for Aaron, he realises that Robert has told Kev about his past with his abusive father Gordon.

Returning to Mill Cottage flat, Aaron is confronted by Kev, who takes pleasure in telling his new enemy what will happen if he doesn’t leave him and Robert alone.

The next day, Robert bumps into Aaron and is left troubled to learn about the threats.

As Mackenzie learns about the latest developments, he decides to fight Aaron’s corner.

But how will short tempered Kev react?