Sarah Sugden
Sarah Sugden is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera, Emmerdale. She was first played by Madeleine Howard from 1988 until 1994 then by Alyson Spiro from 1994 until 2000.
Storylines
Sarah was first introduced as a librarian at the local library of Beckindale and befriended Archie Brooks, Kathy Merrick and Rachel Hughes. She also became friendly with local farmer Jack Sugden when he returned a book to the library but when she asked him out he rejected her advances because he had lost his wife Pat a year and a half earlier and had to look after his two-year-old son Robert Sugden. But in April 1989 they got together and Sarah treated Robert like her own. However, Jack and Pat's 24-year-old son Jackie Merrick didn't like Sarah and tried to get Robert away from her any time he could, not wanting their mother's memory to be forgotten. But eventually Sarah's best friend and Jackie's wife Kathy got the two to be friends.During 1989, Jack left for Italy to see old flame Marian Wilks leaving Sarah unaware of where they stood. Jack returned in August after Jackie is killed in a gun accident but made a permeant return in November which a nosey Amos Brearly made sure Sarah was aware of. Jack declared his relationship with Marian was over and it was Sarah he wanted. In 1990, Sarah agreed to move in with Jack in the farm but kept the connecting door nailed shut to stop his mother Annie Sugden's habit of wandering in declaring she was used to living alone. Sarah at first refused to help out on the farm but later agreed when the Sugdens found themselves shorthanded. The mobile library closed in June 1990 so Jack got her a job as barmaid in the woolpack working for Amos and Henry Wilks who were impressed with her work ethic.
When mad man Jim Latimer was released from jail for the murder of Jack's cousin Sharon, he swore revenge on Jack who was a witness at his trial in 1973, for murder. He took Sarah hostage in an abandoned warehouse where he said he'd keep her but Jack and Annie's son Joe Sugden rescued Sarah who was unharmed and Latimer was subsequently arrested.
In January 1994, Jack proposed to Sarah. By then they had discovered Sarah was pregnant and in March 1994, Sarah gave birth to their daughter Victoria Sugden. In May 1994, Jack and Sarah married but weeks after the wedding, Victoria stopped breathing and a hole in her heart was found. She nearly died but a part of Sarah's heart was taken to save Victoria's life.
In 1996, Robert brought a friend home called Andy Hopwood who was from the children's home after his mother and grandmother had died and his father Billy was in jail. Jack and Sarah decided to adopt him and he eventually became a Sugden. Billy escaped from prison at Christmas 1998 and tried to rob the post office accidentally killing Vic Windsor. Andy confessed to Jack about where Billy was hiding and he was taken away by the police while Vic's hysterical widow Viv shouted abuse at Andy for hiding his father. Sarah had never got on with Viv and the two often exchanged insults towards each other.
Indeed, Scott Windsor always disliked Sarah, but this was generally unrelated to the animosity between his mother and Sarah. Eric Pollard also held a particular dislike for Sarah, as was evident over Kathy and the Graham incident. Her attitude was seen by many - Eric Pollard and the Windsors included - as somewhat holier-than-thou and thus they resented her for it. Pollard was also to blame for village gossip which seemingly blamed Sarah and Jack for poor parenting which amounted to Billy killing Vic.
In 1997, the Sugdens were evicted from the farm by Frank Tate so he could get a quarry built but they moved into a new farm. Soon after, Jack began an affair with Sarah's friend, Rachel Tate. When Sarah found out, she threw Jack out but they reconciled a year later. However, Sarah found living with Jack more difficult than she thought and in 1999, Rachel was murdered by her boyfriend Graham Clark and she realized that Jack still had feelings for Rachel. Sarah felt unsure about how to feel regarding Rachel's death, as despite her affair with Jack, the two women had been extremely close in the years before.
Sarah was determined not to become a traditional farmer's wife like Annie and went away for a few weeks to clear her head. When she returned, she was furious with Jack about the changes he had made in her absence, including stopping Andy and Robert from going to school so they could work on the farm. She insisted that they go back to school and got a job at Kathy's diner so they could afford to employ people on the farm. At Christmas, Sarah bought Robert and Andy the video games they wanted despite the family's financial problems, causing more tension between her and Jack. Despite vowing to make their marriage work, Jack sold Sarah's car to Ashley Thomas and confided in Sarah's friend, Kathy, about his marriage problems. This infuriated Sarah. Sarah supported Kathy when she was nearly killed by Graham, having exposed him as Rachel's killer. Like most of Emmerdale's residents, Sarah wasn't very friendly with Eric Pollard but got on with him in general. However, when Eric called Graham a murderer and no one believed him, Sarah was the particular target of his anger and he verbally attacked her in front of a busy Kathy's Diner. Eric also managed to wind Sarah up into nearly throwing ketchup in his face when he snidely commented on the state of her marriage. In early 2000, the cracks in Jack and Sarah's marriage became even more evident. Even Sarah and Victoria nearly being killed in a bus crash was not enough to save it. Sarah then had an affair with Jack's lodger, Richie Carter, and she and Jack split up when the truth came out in May. Jack refused Sarah access to the children and a custody battle followed. Andy resented Sarah for what she did to Jack and chose to stay with Jack but Robert remained loyal to Sarah and turned to her about changing his GCSEs when Jack was not interested. Despite this, Jack was awarded custody of Robert due to Sarah not being his biological mother.
In October 2000, Sarah won custody of Victoria but Richie, who was meant to be babysitting, left her alone in the house late at night. Furious, Jack attacked Sarah in the Woolpack and threatened to kill her and Richie, to the horror of Bernice Blackstock, Terry Woods and most of the village. Understanding Jack's anger at Richie's carelessness, Sarah decided to dump him and reconcile with Jack to make things work for the children's sake; even realising she still loved Jack. Leaving Victoria with Angie Reynolds, she went to visit Jack at the farm. Richie persuaded her to talk so Sarah suggested they do so in the barn. Hearing someone enter the barn and thinking it was Jack, they hid behind a haybale. It was actually Andy setting fire to the barn for the insurance company in hope of solving Jack's financial problems. Richie managed to climb down the ladder, avoiding the soaring flames, but Sarah was too scared to move. A blast threw Richie off his feet but the ladder up to the haybales fell down, sealing Sarah's fate. After a lot of persuasion, Richie was struggling to breathe due to the smoke so left the barn alone. Meanwhile, Jack had heard the disturbance outside and ran out to see the barn on fire and Richie choking on the ground outside. Sarah is engulfed in flames whilst screaming for Jack. Jack tried to rescue her but stumbled out, gasping for oxygen, just seconds before the barn blew up. Sarah died instantly in the explosion and her body was recovered the following day.
Andy's daughter Sarah was named in her honour.