Members I Am A Swede Posted October 16, 2019 Members Share Posted October 16, 2019 (edited) Oh no. R.I.P sweet Leah. Please register in order to view this content At least her suffering is over. Zoe was a vital part of Emmerdale for a long time, and one of its most iconic characters. Her departure in 2005 was the end of an era. ETA: I wonder if it was a deliberate choice to announce her death on the same date that Emmerdale Farm premiered 47 years ago.... Edited October 16, 2019 by I Am A Swede 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted October 16, 2019 Members Share Posted October 16, 2019 Zoe's exit.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 So, now Robert is gone..... Another sad Sugden exit. Please register in order to view this content I haven't always been fond of him this time around, mostly due to his involvement with whiny Aaron, but he's still a Sugden. I guess I should be glad that they at least didn't kill him off, although they came as close to it as they could I guess. Sending him to prison for a minimum of 14 years..... I don't know why they couldn't give him another exit. Let Danny Miller go too, and give them a happy ending. It's not like the show haven't let characters, even popular ones, go before this... (Kathy, Viv, Terry and Dolly comes immediately to mind) Now the name of Sugden is almost obliterated from the show. Victoria is called Barton, and the only remaining Sugden, Diane, is nowhere near as prominent as she once was. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 I have not had access to Emmerdale eps for a few years now, so unfortunately I can no longer watch the series. (I would love to do so, even though I loathe all things Dingle.) Just out of curiosity, how many Sugdens (blood relatives or legal family members) are still alive and out there in the world, who could actually be brought back to the canvas if TPTB ever decided to focus on this important core family again? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 (edited) Please register in order to view this content That's the problem. The show has so successfully destroyed the Sugden family so there's not much left. Peggy died young and her two children (Sam and Sally) died before their 3rd birthday. Joe never had any biological children (at least that we know of) and his two step-children Mark and Rachel also died young. Mark never had any children, while Rachel had Joseph with Chris Tate. Jack's oldest son Jackie was another one who died young and never had any children. (Kathy miscarried once during their brief marriage) Jackie's (and Robert's) half-sister Sandie still lives for all we know, and has at least one child, daughter Louise. And of course we have the honorary Sugdens, the Skilbeck family: Peggy's widower Matt, his second wife Dolly and their son Sam. It used to be my dream that the show would re-introduce them, but I doubt that's likely. I'm not even sure anyone remembers them now. We could possibly also mention Rosemary Kendall, daughter to Annie's cousin Arthur. She appeared on the show in 1975-76 and, while not a blood Sugden, at least belongs to the family. Edited November 2, 2019 by I Am A Swede 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 So basically, the careless and callous PTB have decimated the family so much over the years that bringing back the Sugdens as major players is next to impossible. That's egregious. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why the show killed off so many of them, and so gratuitously too. (What was even the point of killing off Peggy's twins? And Joe, who was off the show anyway? If TPTB had not been stupid enough to kill him off, it could be said that Joe had had some offspring, maybe twin boys who could carry on the family name.) I know Sheila Mercier is 100 years old (!!!) this year and we will never see Annie again, alas, but even though it would be a stretch, I would readily accept a retcon that Joe was really alive and now had children with whom he could return to the village. Robert needs to have some more biological kids before it's too late as well. (Actually, whatever happened to his and Rebecca White's son Sebastian? I don't recall reading that he had ever been killed off.) I hate when shows destroy their central, core families. I never forgave The Guiding Light for axing most of the Bauers in 1983-4. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 ^^ Yes, it's a disgrace what's been done to the Sugdens. Please register in order to view this content Sebastian is living with Rebecca and Ross, so he's still alive, at least for now. But being a Sugden he's probably doomed..... Andy is still alive of course, as are his children Jack and Sarah. They will probably be safe from the Sugden curse since they're half-Dingles, not to mention that Debbie is their mother. I mean, is there anyone who believes that the show would kill off a spawn of that bitch. For some reason they love her and her family. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted November 2, 2019 Members Share Posted November 2, 2019 Yes, although he's not a blood Sugden, Andy and his kids are still alive to carry on the clan's legacy. And Sebastian could one day change his last name to Sugden, but preserving and reestablishing the family will take care and thought, which TPTB do not seem to have much of where the Sugdens are concerned. To me, the vile Dingles are Emmerdales version of The Guiding Light's abrasive Shayme (I mean Shayne, LOL) family: a debilitating disease that infected a once-healthy show. UGH. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted November 3, 2019 Members Share Posted November 3, 2019 There are dozens of Dingles, so for me they vary in quality. I think some of them are fine actors and play some of the show's best characters. James Hooton and Emma Atkins and Jeff Hordley are all some of the best on soaps these days. I do agree there are too many Dingles. We get into a vicious cycle where characters return solely for ties to the Dingles, because there are so many Dingles. I'm surprised at how much of Kim's return hasn't involved the Dingles. When the Dingles came into Emmerdale, the Sugdens were already pretty much demolished. The worst mistakes were made and sadly can't be undone, although I do think they could have gotten away with bringing Joe back from the dead. The main problem with the Sugdens and their death count is they were done in an era when the show saw itself as more of a family drama, a life drama, heavily based on the Sugdens. Kevin Laffan then left the show, and even as they transitioned to being a soap, they did nothing to build up the Sugdens. They just kept killing them off and minimizing their role. You could still bring in a long lost son for Jack or Jackie and start fresh. But they won't. I wish they would. The main problem is they can no longer create new families, so we have no alternatives. Look at the Bartons and how poorly they've fared - they're almost all dead and they've only been on the show TEN YEARS! Look at Jessie and her sons, brought in only a year ago, now almost all gone. And on and on. Emmerdale needs new blood, and there's no better way than to go back to the past for inspiration. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted November 3, 2019 Members Share Posted November 3, 2019 Well, as I have said, I no longer have access to Emmerdale episodes, so I cannot even watch the show, but even when I did, I was overdosing on the Dingle brigade. I could probably tolerate them a bit more if their number were less and if the show did not focus on them so much. I recognize that there are some good actors among the bunch. I always champion efforts to mine a show's rich past and to weave history into the present, but that manner of storytelling is not favored in today's soap market, on either side of the pond. I supposed those of us who are disappointed with how modern soaps are run must be content with watching vintage episodes of our beloved soaps on youtube. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted November 3, 2019 Members Share Posted November 3, 2019 I don't care if the Dingles are played by fine actors or not. They remain despicable, unlikeable characters I won't lie and say that I've never tolerated some of them at times. Marlon was quite tolerable when he was with Tricia, and I used to quite like Chas as well. But on the whole I have disliked that family from the start, and their ever increasing presence has done nothing to change that. And it might be unfair, but when I compare the hatchet job that has been done on the Sugden family to the ever growing number of Dingles on the show it doesn't exactly endear them to me either. It seems like there's always a new Dingle-relative or previously unknown offspring popping up. Like this new story with Nate. I guess we're supposed to feel for Cain now that his life has been turned upside down by this new son he didn't know about. But I don't give a f*ck about Cain Dingle's feelings. After all the misery and heartbreak he has inflicted on any number of Emmerdale residents before this I say "karma's a bitch" and I'm ecstatic that he's hurting. It couldn't happen to a more deserving a**hole! But it's only a matter of time before Nate is swallowed up by the Dingle pack and is singing Cain's praises like everyone else. It's nauseating! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bright Eyes Posted November 3, 2019 Members Share Posted November 3, 2019 (edited) I've mentioned this before, but I would love to see the villagers rise up and run them out of town. Either that or a Loving style murder mystery where they all die. In my head Lisa was the killer, just like Gwen, but I don't know who the culprit would be now. Belle? Faith? Did Bob ever find out Cain was responsible for Dawn's death? Edited November 3, 2019 by Bright Eyes 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I Am A Swede Posted November 8, 2019 Members Share Posted November 8, 2019 Please register in order to view this content They have re-cast Ellis https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-50343564 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikelyons Posted November 30, 2019 Members Share Posted November 30, 2019 Agreed! And they keep MULTIPLYING!!! I turned off Emmerdale about a year and a half ago because of the Dingles. I recently saw the news today that the actors playing Lisa, Bernice, Meghan, Graham, Robert, and a few more QUIT! I was shocked. What are they doing to Emmerdale? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted November 30, 2019 Members Share Posted November 30, 2019 @I Am A Swede I thought you might be interested in this. It's the Emmerdale episode which was never in any of the old episode packages that were available in past years. It's the episode right before the plane crash. ITV3 repeated it a few days ago and someone put it on Youtube. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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