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 July 1988 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 17 November 2000 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
 Madeleine Howard as Sarah Connolly in 1994. | |||||||||||
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Sarah Sugden (née Connolly) was a fictional character in the popular ITV soap opera, Emmerdale. She was first played by Madeleine Howard from 1988 until 1994 then by Alyson Spiro from 1994 until 2000.
Storylines
1988–1997
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 1989 they got together and Sarah treat Robert like her own but 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.
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 were 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.
1998–2000
In 1997 Jack started an affair with Sarah's friend Rachel Tate and when Sarah found out she threw Jack out and tried to kill Rachel by pushing her in the canal. But a year later Jack and Sarah got back together.
In 1999 Jack and Sarah's marriage started to turn sour and then Jack's ex mistress Rachel was killed and he still had feeling's for her but Sarah didn't care. Sarah then had an affair with Jack's friend Richie and she and Jack split up.
In November 2000 Sarah got custody of Victoria but a week later she dumped Richie and tried to get Jack to take her back. On her way to the farm Richie got Sarah to go into the barn in an attempt to win her back but, hearing someone enter the barn and thinking it was Jack, they climbed up a ladder and hid behind a haybale. It turned out to be Sarah's adopted son Andy Sugden setting fire to the barn in a bid to win compensation from the insurance company in hope of solving Jack's money problems. Richie managed to climb down the ladder, avoiding the soaring flames, but Sarah was too scared. A mini blast threw Richie off his feet but destroyed the ladder, thus sealing Sarah's fate. After a lot of persuasion, Richie was struggling to breathe due to the smoke, so escaped without Sarah. Meanwhile Jack had heard the disturbance outside and ran out, only to see his 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 get Sarah out but stumbled out, gasping for oxygen, just seconds before the barn blew up. The remains of Sarah's body were found the next day.