Victoria Sugden

Victoria Anne Sugden is a character in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was originally played by Jessica Haywood from 1994 to 1998, then she was played by Hannah Midgley from 1998 to July 2006 and as of October Isabel Hodgins is in the role.

About Victoria

Victoria is the youngest of the Sugden children and the only daughter of Jack Sugden. She was born three months after the Emmerdale plane crash to Jack and Sarah Sugden. Victoria also has a half brother Robert , Jack's son who was born in 1986.

A short time after she was born, she was diagnosed with a hole in her heart and had to have an operation. Her parents feared she would die, but thankfully the little girl pulled through. A couple of weeks later, Jack and Sarah married, but it wasn't long before Sarah left Jack for a member of staff who had been treating Victoria when she was in hospital. Jack and Sarah eventually got back together, but their happiness was not to last.

One day in 1996, Robert brought home his new friend, Andy Hopwood. Hopwood was in a children's home and the Sugdens decided to foster him, but they later adopted him. It seemed like the family was back on track, but later Sarah and Victoria were nearly killed when a bus crashed in the village.

In 1999 Jack allowed his friend Richie to move into his home. It was not long before Sarah began an affair with Richie, who was much younger than she was. In 2000 Jack found out about the affair and threw Sarah and Richie out and forbade Sarah from being in contact with Robert, Andy and Victoria.

As a custody battle broke out, Jack decided that the best place for the children would be with his mother, Annie, in Spain for a few weeks. When they returned, Victoria moved in with Sarah and the boys stayed with Jack.

In 2000, the Sugdens were beginning to run out of money. Andy overheard Jack say that they could do with some insurance money and he hoped something would catch on fire. He decided to set fire to a barn the 16 November 2000. Tragically Sarah was inside with Richie and whilst Richie escaped with only minor burns, Sarah died.

The police came calling and believed that Jack had started the fire deliberately in order to get Victoria back. Despite his innocence, Jack was arrested for murder and put in prison. Jack was found not guilty at his trial.

In 2002 Victoria started acting strangely with an imaginary friend called Walter Todd, who started taking up much of the little girl's time. She often refused to go out unless he could come to. Jack started to worry about Victoria, but she grew out of it with time.

In 2003 Victoria collapsed with a ruptured appendix and was rushed to hospital and was successfully treated.

Victoria was a bridesmaid for Katie when she married Andy in 2004. A short time later, she was horrified to find Robert in bed with Katie. Her brother threatens that he would kill her if she told anyone what she had seen scared her so much that she refused to talk at all. Diane said that one of the kids in her class had probably dared her to do it and they would give her their roller blades in return. But as the days went on Jack and Diane became increasingly worried about her and referred her to a doctor who said that it was probably just a phase she was going through. She was given a puppet Alfie but the puppet annoyed Jack and he through it against a wall in front of Diane, Katie], Andy, Daz, Robert and Robert's girlfriend, Donna. Victoria told Diane what she had seen and Jack found out and punished Robert.

Andy left Katie when he found out and Donna dumped Robert. Robert and Katie moved into a caravan together and one morning Andy hid in the caravan hoping to shoot Robert. Tragically , Jack was shot when he delivered a water tank to the caravan and Andy, without looking fired the trigger. As Jack recovered in hospital, the brothers rowed over who was to blame for the accident. When Jack woke up he was furious as it could have been Victoria who was shot (she was with Dawn Woods).

Fortunately, a stabling influence has come into their lives. Jack becomes engaged to Woolpack landlady Diane Blackstock, who proves to be a fantastic step-mum to Victoria.

When Diane is diagnosed with colon cancer, Victoria proves to be her rock and delivers the shocking news to the congregation at her dad's wedding.

In 2005 Victoria became an aunt when Andy got Debbie Dingle pregnant and on 6 June Sarah was born.

Victoria was devastated by the departure of her brother Robert. After losing Katie following his affair with wealthy Sadie King, Robert concocts an evil plan to get back at Andy. He seduced Debbie Dingle, the mother of Andy's daughter Sarah and persuaded her to run away with him, taking his brother's daughter.

Things took a turn when Debbie arrived alone; Robert dumped her and had a violent showdown with Andy. The two men raced towards each other in cars, and crashed, killing Andy's passenger Max King. Jack orders Robert to leave Emmerdale forever, and Victoria was absolutely bereft.

After a few months, the little lady strikes up a friendship with school pal Kayleigh Crow. They work together to get Kayleigh's dad Martin together with Diane's best friend Louise Appleton and spend all their time together.

But as they grow up, Kayleigh and Victoria are proving to be quite a handful. They gatecrashed Jamie Hope's rave and then started a campaign of terror against poor pensioner Edna Birch.

Kayleigh and Victoria caused trouble for Chastity Dingle's 12 year old son Aaron when the told him about Chas's cousin Delilah Dingle's affair with Chas's partner Carl King. Aaron told his mum and left Emmerdale.

In June 2006 Kayleigh and her best friend Victoria Sugden started playing knock and run at their neighbour, Edna Birch's house. When they ran away Victoria's phone fell out of her pocket and Edna found it. She refused to give it back until both girls apologised. Kayleigh refused. In an attempt to get Victoria's phone back they broke into Edna's house when she was out walking her dog. The girls got caught and Kayleigh ran away. Edna caught Victoria and when Victoria mimicked her, she slapped her across the face.

Victoria went to Spain in 2006 to visit her grandma, Annie and her husband Amos.

Even when Victoria was in Spain she was still causing trouble. The 12 year old was due back at the end of August but lost her passport and her stay was delayed until 12 October when she came home. On this day, Jack had gone to the airport to collect Victoria. But the cheeky youngster wasn't there (this was maybe because Jack had been half an hour late to pick her up). When he returned without her Diane thought that it had to be a wind up but when she saw how worried Jack was she believed him. Jack phoned his mother and she said that she had seen Victoria go through the departure gate at the airport. As Jack went back to the airport to search again Diane went home just in case she turned up. When she arrived she found Victoria talking to Daz as if she had done nothing wrong!

She soon started giving Jack and Diane more to worry about when she told them of her holiday romance with a 14 year old boy named Enrique. Jack was appalled and the next day phoned Annie to check that Victoria had not just made the whole thing up. Annie said she didn't have a clue what Jack was talking about. Victoria later confessed that she had made the whole thing up.

Later on , while at Andy and Katie's , she confessed to Katie that she was telling the truth and Enrique was real but he was 16 years old and not 14.She also told Katie that she had got a tattoo and showed her it. Although Victoria told her not to tell anyone the tattoo and Enrique, Katie told Andy what Victoria had told her but it remains to be seen whether or not the tattoo was real and if Andy will tell Jack about Victoria.

Victoria ran off to a deserted farm and saw a ghostly figure in the window and ran off (leaving Daz's bike). She told Daz and they went back to get the bike and saw smoke coming from the chimney. Daz said that it was probably just a tramp (little did they know that it was Emily Kirk who was hiding there after giving Sarah back to Andy).

Victoria and Kayleigh caused pregnant Viv Hope to collapse. A week before the Cafe where Viv worked had been robbed and the man who did it was carrying a gun. When Victoria, Kayleigh and a few of their other friends threw eggs at the window and Viv collapsed. Viv was taken to hospital and Viv's husband Bob Hope yelled at Victoria over what had happened when she tried to appologise. Viv was thankfully okay.

Kayleigh, Victoria and their friend Jenny Albright went to a nightclub after a woman had given Victoria tickets to go there. They got all dressed up and told Victoria's dad Jack that they were going out. Although they didn't stay long as they spotted Victoria's brother Andy and a lot of other Emmerdale residents at the club. As they were leaving, Andy's lodger, Jo Stiles, saw them and told them about the dodgy people in the club but promised not to tell Jack that they had been there.

A suspicious Andy quizzed Victoria over Katie's horse-riding accident. The teen looked shaken when Andy asked if Jo was involved, but didn't reveal what she saw. He warned her to be more careful in the farmyard.

Jo took a trip to pick Victoria up from school. She warned the tearaway teen not to blab - or she'll tell daddy about her secret clubbing. But Victoria refused to be blackmailed and Jo realised she'd have to bargain harder. Eventually she told her she'd help her sneak off to clubs more often. Victoria is delighted.

Recently Victoria got into a fight with Luke Dingle at school, after she made a comment about his mom, Lilith, being in prison.

Victoria was getting grumpy Because Daz, whom she called a “thicko” was getting attention from Jack and was finally being given the opportunity he deserved to make something of himself.

Victoria saw Billy Hopwood shake hands with Daz and realised they were probably planning to meet again. She told Daz what she'd seen and he felt bad – especially after Jack had generously offered to give him another chance at the garage.

Victoria spitefully revealed to Daz that she'd seen him with Billy and tried to blackmail him into buying her cider from the shop. He wasn't about to play her games so she went straight to tell Jack instead. Victoria, meanwhile, got dressed up to the nines for the youth disco.

Victoria is still terrified of water after the accident and lied to Jack and Diane to avoid going swimming with her friends. She went out for a walk and suffered a panic attack down by the river – luckily Billy was on hand to comfort her. Kelly walked across the bridge and offered Victoria her support, angering Billy because he knew she played a part in tampering with his truck.

Victoria used the money Jack gave her to buy flowers for Diane on Mother's Day to put flowers on Sarah's grave. Jack was furious when he discovered his daughter hadn't bought any flowers for her step-mother and told her to get out of his sight. However, Billy had bumped into Victoria in the graveyard and told Daz what had really happened.

Jack apologised to Victoria for his bad behaviour and told her that Diane would never try to replace Sarah. He told his daughter, “If you want to know who your mum was, you should just look in the mirror

Victoria still had more to get off her chest and asked Sarah, “Why does dad always get so edgy when I talk about her?” Diane played dumb but Victoria questioned whether the police should reopen the case… When Victoria went upstairs Jack came home. When Diane told him what had happened he said, “She's never going to know.” Diane replied, “If she finds out from somebody else, she's going to resent you for the rest of your life.”

Elsewhere, an unruly Victoria found some photographs of Sarah in an old family album. She and Jack looked at the pictures together, and he told her, “I know you miss her. We all do.” At dinner Jack told Diane what a struggle he was finding his daughter's erratic behaviour, saying, “The boys were bad enough but I think I'm out of my depth.”

Victoria found an old Mother's Day card she had given to Sarah and ended up in tears. She struggled with her emotions as her early childhood memories came flooding back. Andy found her looking upset and they reminisced about their mother. But Andy became nervous when Victoria started asking questions about Sarah's death. Andy urgently talked to Jack and Diane and they agreed on a strategy to answer as many of Victoria's questions as possible without giving the real story away. Diane told them both, "Just tell her the person responsible was never found and that's that."

Victoria decided to ask Emily what she knew of Sarah's death. Emily was cagey and Victoria became frustrated, feeling sure she was being kept in the dark about something sinister.

That evening Jack caught Emily closing up the shop and begged her to let him have some flour to make Victoria a birthday cake. Emily agreed and mentioned Victoria's questions earlier in the day. She also told Jack it was clear Victoria felt she was being lied to.

Jasmine saw that Victoria was upset and promised to help her find out some information about Sarah. When Victoria returned home Jack tried to reassure her she knew all there was to know. But Jasmine arrived in the middle of their discussion and felt torn about whether to tell Victoria what she had discovered – that Jack had been accused of Sarah's murder and appeared in court. She left in a hurry deciding it was better left out of her hands.

Victoria celebrated her 13th birthday and was touched to receive a necklace that belonged to her mother as a gift from Jack. She appeared to have almost given up on her investigation into Sarah's death. However, Jasmine decided to show Jack the article she had found from the library archives about his murder trial. She tried to convince him to talk to Victoria about it and tell her he was found innocent, but Jack was too angry and made her promise not to tell Victoria. Victoria spotted Jack and Jasmine talking secretively and her suspicions were aroused once again. She knew she must try even harder to find out the truth about how Sarah died. Victoria took it upon herself to visit the library and finds the same information as Jasmine. She returned home demanding to know the truth and Jack was forced to confess he had spent time in prison for Sarah's murder although in the end he wasn't found guilty of killing her.

In July 2007 Victoria and Kayliegh decided to sign up for the outdoor pursuits trip at school. Victoria got the money to go but when kayleigh turned up a day later victoria revealed that she had no intention of going on the trip and that she was going to take the money and go to hotton. However she canged her mind when Kayleigh showd her a picture of the hunky instructor, Christian. The girls then started hatching ways to get him to notice them.

As the girls prepared for their outdoor pursuits trip, it finally dawned on Jack the reason Victoria was so pleased to be heading to the great outdoors – Christian her delicious teacher. Victoria’s grin was soon wiped from her face, however, when he explained that the trip would involve water sports. Clearly recalling her traumatic truck crash into the lake, Victoria panicked. When Christian tried to get her into a canoe, Victoria hit him with her paddle and was promptly suspended from school.

Billy visited Victoria to check she was okay after the incident on the school trip. To Jack’s annoyance, Victoria opened up to Billy but remained closed off from him, no matter how much effort he made to reclaim his status as a loving father.

Victoria wound Daz up by sitting in on his date with his girlfriend penny.

Recently, Victoria helped at the woolpack and picked up a cigarette to smoke but Val stopped her.

Truck crash

1 February 2007 Jack was unimpressed with the wanton 12-year-old and ordered her to remove some of her make up – he also warned her she was being collected at 9pm. Before leaving she managed to sneak a bottle of liquor from Jack's cupboard. After arguing with Val over the décor in the pub, Diane forgot to collect Victoria, and only realised her mistake when Jack came in for a pint. Jack was furious with his forgetful wife and told her that her recent behaviour has been unacceptable. Waiting in the cold, Kayleigh and Victoria fell out. While the sensible policeman's daughter ran off to get a taxi home, Victoria went to a club and got talking to an 18-year-old boy in the queue. Before they even got to the front of the line, the lust-filled lad lead the school girl round the back of the building and started trying to kiss her. Victoria soon realised she was out of her depth and struggled to stop the lad when he wanted to take things further. Luckily, Billy was emptying bins nearby and scared him off. Billy was furious with Victoria and called her a “silly little girl”. Victoria tried to act cool, but Billy made her get in the truck and put her seat belt on. Still drunk, Victoria refused to settle down and taunted the ex-con saying, ‘Can I call you Killer Bill?’ After Jo admitted she thought Victoria might be in a nightclub, Jack raced round there and learned from the bouncer that Victoria was seen getting into Billy's truck. Fearing the worst, he called Diane – and she called the police. Speeding through the dark with a drunken Victoria, Billy was desperate to get back to Emmerdale. Suddenly, he realised his brakes had failed an unable to steer the huge vehicle he crashed into the lake. The heavy truck sunk immediately. Underwater, Victoria was trapped and drowning. Finding a pocket of air Billy managed to breathe oxygen into her mouth as he worked to free her. Eventually he managed to get her out just as Jack, Andy and Daz arrived on the scene. Victoria swam to the surface, but Billy remained trapped in the truck. Back at the pub, Kelly realised she'd put Victoria's life in danger, distraught she struggled to hold it together. Disliking the idea of going back to jail, Eli forced her to keep quiet. Desperate to find his Dad, Daz dived into the lake, searching manically. Just as he was about to give up he spotted Billy's body floating at the far side. Luckily the paramedics arrived on the scene just as Billy's body was found. After receiving mouth-to-mouth, Daz is relieved to see his dad splutter and open his eyes. Full of adrenaline Jack lunged at Billy and accused him of abducting Victoria, the police arrived and made to arrest Billy but Daz leapt to his defence and Victoria admitted he'd saved her - twice. A furious Daz forced Jack to thank Billy, but it didn't look like Andy was ready to forgive and forget.

Finding out about Diane and Billy

Recently Victoria heard Diane and Billy discussing their relationship. Victoria went straight home and told Jack. “I know you're supposed to forgive people you love, but her choosing Billy of all people?” she told her horrified father. Jack’s face fell but he was convinced his troublesome daughter was lying. “Don’t talk rubbish!” he shouted. “Why would you say such hurtful things?” “It's the truth!” she cried. “Ask Val - she knows!” Jack was building to a rage. “Victoria, if you're lying...!” Victoria replied: “I'm not lying; I'm trying to help you!” In his heart Jack knew she must be telling the truth and he stormed off to the Woolpack.

Fire

16 October 2007 Inside the house, Jack told his sons and Victoria about Diane and Billy. Victoria was sobbing, insisting it was all her fault and she wished she’d never followed the pair and heard their conversation. Victoria also paid Billy a visit. “You happy now?” she asked. “You’ve ruined my family!” Billy was drunk and wasn’t going to take all the blame. He implied that the Sugdens had never been saintly and brought up the subject of Sarah’s death. “Bit of a coincidence, Jack being there the night your mother died,” he said, smiling. “Think about it Victoria - have they ever really told you what happened to her?” Victoria ran off. Does she now think that Jack killed Sarah?

After yet another row with Jack about Diane, Victoria went off on her own and got drunk. The teenager had been rifling through old newspaper clippings of the fire which killed her mother. One of the pictures was of Sarah’s lover, Richie, who had been with her but had survived. Victoria had decided to pay Richie a visit, in a last ditch attempt to find out the truth about the night her mother died. Richie told her he couldn’t help her. “I’d best call Jack, get him to take you home, eh?” he said, patronisingly. But Victoria wasn’t having it. “No!” she cried. “I need to know about her and what happened the night she died!” Richie had no choice but to talk to Victoria. “You must have seen who started the fire,” said the troubled teenager. Richie described the events leading up to fire, including how Jack had threatened to kill both him and Sarah for their betrayal. “Tell me who it was - even if it was my dad,” said Victoria. But Richie replied: “It wasn't your dad, I can promise you that.” Victoria screamed: “You’re lying!” Victoria returned to the village and was promptly sick from all the alcohol. Spotting Andy down the road, she ran into a nearby garage to hide. She overheard Andy bump into Jack, who told her Victoria had not turned up for school. The pair set off to look for her together. Inside the garage, a clearly disturbed Victoria spotted a petrol can. She picked it up. Victoria took the can home and doused the furniture with petrol. Moments later, Jack and Andy returned to Annie’s Cottage and immediately smelled the fumes. Then they saw Victoria, poised with a lighter in her hand, ready to set the place alight. “I'll light it,” she said. “This place will burn and then you'll know what it feels like.” Jack was confused: “What do you mean?” he asked her. “I know you did it - I know the truth. You killed her!” screamed Victoria. Andy stepped towards her. “Dad's only tried to protect you,” he said. “And me.” Jack knew what Andy was about to do. “Andy, don’t,” he said. But Andy couldn’t carry on lying. “It was me Victoria, I started the fire. I killed her.” Victoria looked at her brother in horror. Meanwhile, a shocked Victoria had fled her father and brother, but hit her head badly as she fell running up the stairs. She was lying on her bed, bleeding, when Jack and Andy got to her. Jack went into the bathroom to soak a flannel in warm water to clean his daughter’s head. He had forgotten about the petrol fumes in the house when he turned on the hot tap. The pilot light in the boiler came on and ignited the fumes. A massive explosion ripped through the house. Daz had been walking past the cottage outside and was thrown to the ground with the force of the blast. Inside Annie’s Cottage, the lounge was a raging inferno, where Victoria had soaked everything in petrol. As the fire took hold, there was a second explosion. Andy was still in Victoria’s bedroom and smashed her window. He swept her up in his arms and carried her to the window. By now many of the villagers were standing outside and Jonny waited below the bedroom window with his arms up, telling Andy to drop his sister down. “Please, Andy, no!” Victoria screamed, scared of falling. With everyone out of the house, the ambulances pulled away and the villagers stood gaping at the smoke and the flames. Victoria looked at the floor. How will she cope with the repercussions of her actions? Will Jack and Billy recover?

The aftermarth

Victoria went to see her dad, terrified of what might happen to her. “They'll never believe it was an accident,” she cried. “They'll know it was me who poured the petrol. I can't do to prison, dad, I can't. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!” Jack held her hand and told her everything would be all right.

When Victoria was questioned, it was clear she didn’t intend to let Andy get away with having killed her mother. “I never started it,” she said. “I don't know what I thought would happen, but I didn't set fire to it.” The detective asked her how she felt about Andy’s confession. “I felt bad,” she replied, “for all the nasty things I said to my dad. He should have told me sooner. But Dad’s always protected him, he didn't even want Andy to come forward now. I think he'd rather I got the blame.”

After Andy was charged with manslaughter for killing Sarah in the barn fire in 2000, Victoria was charged with threat to cause criminal damage by arson. Victoria was released on bail and told she would appear in a youth court in several weeks’ time. Andy was put straight into custody and Jack and Jo were both devastated. “It’s all your fault!” Jo shouted at Victoria.

Victoria came to visit Billy and he apologised for what he said to her on that terrible day. “I'm sorry for what I said,” he told her, sincerely. “I didn't think I was lying about your dad and you'd made me so, so angry.” Victoria replied: “All this time I've thought about that night in the truck and felt so grateful that you saved me. Now I wish you'd died. I wish we'd both died.”

Currently Victoria is being bullied by some girls at school, in which some of the bullying is being done by saying nasty comments about the fire and the court case, and by sending nasty text messages to her mobile phone.

Victoria had her first hearing and the judge ruled that in light of her actions she should be psychoanalysed before being sentenced.

Trivia

• Victoria has brown hair and brown eyes,Victoria before was ginger.
• Victoria does not get on very well with Belle Dingle. The pair have been seen arguing many times and their most recent one was over Sarah, who is Belle's great-neice and Debbie's daughter.
• She has been played by three actresses over the years; Jessica Haywood (1994-1998), Hannah Midgley (1998-2006) and Isabel Hodgins (October 2006 onwards).
• Victoria is best friends with Kayleigh Gibbs. and her other best friend is jenny

Family

• Father: Jack Sugden
• Mother: Sarah Sugden (deceased)
• Half Brothers: Jackie Merrick (deceased), Robert Sugden
• Grandfather: Jacob Sugden (deceased)
• Grandmother: Annie Brearly
• Great Grandfather: Sam Pearson (deceased)
• Great Grandmother: Mary Perason (deceased)
• Uncle: Joe Sugden (deceased)
• Aunt: Peggy Skilbeck (deceased)
• Cousins: Sally Skilbeck (deceased), Sam Skilbeck (deceased)
• Adoptive Brother: Andy Sugden

External links

• Victoria Sugden at itv.com