Sarah Sugden
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| Sarah Sugden | |||||||||||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||||||
 Alyson Spiro as Sarah Sudgen in 1999. | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Madeleine Howard (1988–94) Alyson Spiro (1994–2000) | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1988–2000 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 7 April 1988 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 16 November 2000 | ||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Stuart Doughty | ||||||||||||||
 Madeleine Howard as Sarah Connolly in 1994. | |||||||||||||||
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Sarah Sugden (née Connolly) 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 became firm friends with Archie Brooks, Kathy Merrick and Rachel Hughes.
She became friendly with local farmer Jack Sugden but when she took a pass on him 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. But in December 1988 they got together and Sarah treated Robert like her own. However, Jack's 24-year-old son Jackie didn't like Sarah and tried to get Robert away from her any time he could. But eventually Sarah's best friend and Jackie's wife Kathy got the two to be friends. But tragedy struck when Jackie was killed several months later.
During 1989 Jack left for Italy to see old flame Marian Wilks leaving Sarah unaware of where they stood. Jack returned in November who a nosey Amos Brearly made sure Sarah was aware of. Jack declared his relationship with Marion was over and it was her he wanted. In 1990 Sarah agreed to move in with Jack in the farm but kept the connecting door nailed shut to stop 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 for murder. He took Sarah hostage in an abandoned warehouse where he said he'd keep her till Jack gave him £20,000. But Sarah knocked Latimer out with a brick and escaped unharmed. Latimer, meanwhile, was gunned down by police.
In January 1994 Jack proposed to Sarah. By then they had discovered Sarah was pregnant and in March 1994 Sarah gave birth to Victoria. 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 mum and gran had died and his father Billy was in jail. Jack and Sarah decided to adopt him and he 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 to a certain extent, Jack) for poor parenting which amounted to Billy Hopwood killing Vic Windsor.
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 died suddenly 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 Clark. 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. In the early 2000, the cracks in Jack and Sarah's marriage became even more evident. Even Sarah and Victoria nearly being killed in the bus crash wasn't enough to save it. Sarah then had an affair with Jack's lodger, Richie, and she and Jack split up when the truth came out in May. Jack refused Sarah access to the children and a nasty custody battle followed. Andy resented Sarah for what she did to Jack but Robert remained loyal to Sarah and turned to her about changing his GCSEs when Jack was not interested.
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 talk in the barn. Hearing someone enter the barn and thinking it was Jack, they hid behind a haybale. It was actually Sarah's adopted son, Andy Sugden, 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. What we last see of Sarah is her screaming for one last time: "Jaaack!" He tried to rescue her but stumbled out, gasping for oxygen, just seconds before the barn blew up.
In October 2007, Victoria sets alight to the Sugden house after discovering the truth about Sarah's death and the roles that Jack and Andy played in it. In November 2014, Robert, Chrissie White, Andy, Katie Macey, and Victoria attend her grave for a memorial service to mark the anniversary of her death.