Sugden family

Sugden family

The Sugden family are a fictional family in the popular ITV soap opera "Emmerdale". They are traditionally a family of farmers who originate from rural Yorkshire, the Sugden family have been farming in Yorkshire for generations and still do. The Sugdens have been the core family since the very first episode in 1972 and they still are but focus has also been shared with the Dingle family. Current Sugdens on the show include: Jack Sugden, Diane Sugden, Victoria Sugden, Andy Sugden, Katie Sugden, Jo Sugden and Sarah Sugden.

Emmerdale Farm

The Miffield estate was the biggest employer in the village of Beckindale, Emmerdale Farm was on the edge of the village and during the 1850s, the Crimean War was raging, during the war, Josh Sugden sacrificed his life to save Lord Miffield's son from death. Lord Miffield, out of gratitude for the great sacrifice, gave the Sugdens Emmerdale Farm which was a farm on the edge of Beckindale.

Josh Sugden's grandson was Joseph Sugden, who with his wife (Margaret) had a son, whom they called Jacob Sugden. Jacob married the daughter of farmer, Sam Pearson, she was called Annie Pearson and the two married in 1945 and one years later in 1946, Annie bore a son who they named John Sugden but whom was called Jack for short. In 1948, Annie gave birth to a baby girl who went onto to be called Peggy Sugden, a year later Jacob got another son who they named Joseph Sugden and the family all lived and worked together at Emmerdale Farm in the farmhouse.

In 1964, when Jack was around the age of eighteen, he had a very heated argument with his father, Jacob. Jack wanted to get away from Beckindale and explore the outside world, Jack then left Beckindale for London, leaving the rest of the family to cope alone. Things became tough at Emmerdale, due to Jacob's continuing visits to the woolpack drowning the hard money that the family had worked so hard for.

Death of a Patriarch

After Jack left, Jacob visited the Woolpack more regularly where he would often become drunk, Jack kept in contact with his family through letters and Peggy later married an orphaned farmer, Matt Skilbeck (in 1968) who also worked very hard on the farm. Jacob battled his addiction to alcohol for years but he was fighting a losing battle, as the farm was losing a lot of its profits due to Jacob using a lot of money on alcohol. In 1972 Jacob finally lost the battle with alcohol and died, leaving the farm in need of money. Jack returned but didn't attend the funeral, he looked over the farm and had a drink in the Woolpack whilst waiting for the family to return back to the farm. Peggy greeted Jack with hostility when it was discovered that Jacob had left Jack everything, Annie was also slightly bitter with Jack but allowed him to stay on at the farm but Annie and Jack later formed a closer relationship.

ibling Rivalry

The family were also curious about Jack's time in London and the amount of money he had, they eventually dicovered that Jack had written a novel which had proved successful, at the same time Jack and Joe were both competing for the affections of Marian Wilks , Annie accused Marian of playing the two off against each other and eventually Jack formed a relationship with her, much to the annoyance of Marian's father, Henry Wilks who had had run ins with Jack in the past. However Henry did believe that Joe was the right man for Marian and after Joe was involved in a car crash, Marian tried to encourage Joe to learn more and study for exams, however Joe saw it as an opportunity to prove that he could be smarter than Jack but he eventually gave up on this and chased after Janie Harker, Ruth Merrick's younger sister.

While Jack and Marian had a relationship, Tom Merrick was employed at Emmerdale Farm, Tom however had discovered that Jack was the father of his supposed son John "Jackie." Tom had looked closely at photos of Jack and Jackie, they resembled each other as well as the fact that Ruth had named him John after Jack. When Matt complained that Merrick wasn't working very well, Jack confronted Tom who threatened to tell Marian of his secret. Jack sacked Merrick anyway and Tom did tell Marian but they stayed together.

Family Problems

With money being down, the family gathered together to discuss the future of the farm, they suggested selling the family farm which would result in the family going it's separate ways. Annie told Jack that if he wasn't willing to run the farm then they would sell up, Annie would become a housekeeper and rent a cottage, Matt and Peggy would go to the city and Grandad would go to a senior citizen's home. Jack refused to allow this to happen and stated he would run the farm.

However, Peggy who had fallen pregnant was getting annoyed with Jack's attitude as a manager of the farm, Peggy had claimed that Jack had changed for the worse and insisted on her and Matt leaving to work in the city so they could live in their own home. Matt wanted to stay working on at the farm but Peggy was insistent.

Jack eventually bought an old mill after battling with Henry Wilks over the land and moved into it, he meanwhile divide the farm between himself, Annie, Joe, Peggy and Grandad. Grandad however didn't want the responsibility and sold his share to Henry Wilks for £500. Peggy was now satisfied and agreed to stay on at Emmerdale Farm.

Changes in the Family

In early 1973, Amos feared that the brewery wanted a husband and wife team to run the pub together, in fear, Amos cycled over to the farm and proposed to his close friend, Annie Sugden. Annie was amused but turned Amos' offer down. Later in the year Peggy gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Matt and Peggy named the babies Sam and Sally Skilbeck, they also converted a barn on the farm into a small cottage for them to live in near the family. However a huge tragedy was to strike the Sugden family in July, just three months after the twins were born, Peggy unexpectedly suffered a brain haemorrhage and died. The family were devastated and Matt sent the twins to live with his Aunt Beattie and her husband so that they could give the twins full time care as Matt had to work on the farm. Peggy was buried next to her father, Jacob. In early 1974, Jack decided to leave Beckindale with Marian, to write his second novel in Italy. However devastation would later occur for Matt again when the twins died along with his aunt when her car collided with a train. Joe fell in love with Christine Sharp and married her, Christine started to work on the farm but the hard life of farming stressed her out and she left Joe after just five weeks. Jack later came back in 1976, after suffering from writer's block, he came to visit Annie and the family after he broke up with Marian, after getting the boost he needed, he left for Italy to finish off his second novel.

In 1976, Joe formed a relationship with Kathy Gimbel, a local farm girl who like Joe had recently split from her spouse however their relationship got too complicated and they split up. Later on, Joe's estranged wife - Christine Sugden returned and wanted to give their marriage another go but Joe insisted on having a divorce, Christine's dad, Robert Sharp wanted Christine to get half of Emmerdale farm in the divorce settlement but Henry Wilks suggested to Joe that if Sharp claimed half of the farm then Joe could claim half of his dairy farm. With this in mind Sharp didn't claim any of the farm and the divorce went through. Meanwhile Grandad Sam proposed to his old flame Nellie Radcliffe who turned him down, claiming they were too old to marry. Sam later thought to keep Nellie in her cottage when NY estates tried to force her out. Joe and Kathy reconciled later in 1977 and moved into 3, Demdyke Row but Kathy's dad commited suicide after his wife and kids left him. Kathy felt guilty and depressed and left Joe again.Matt meanwhile, had found love again in the form of Dolly Acaster in 1977, they eventually made plans to marry and did so in June 1978. Dolly later fell pregnant but misscaried in early 1980.

In January 1980, Jack Sugden returned to Beckindale after finishing his novel in Italy, when Jack returned, he became serious about farming and wanted to run the farm, but Joe had also considered himself to be the manager of the farm and joined NY estates as assistant manager of Home Farm.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sugden — refers to:;Persons * Edward Sugden (methodist) (1854–1935), Methodist minister, first master of Queen s College, University of Melbourne * Edward Sugden, 1st Baron St Leonards (1781–1875), British jurist and politician * Mark Sugden (1902–1990),… …   Wikipedia

  • Sugden Reservoir Dam — Infobox Dam dam name= Sugden Reservoir Dam caption= Sugden Reservoir Dam at Spencer official name= Sugden Reservoir Dam crosses= Shaw Brook reservoir= Sugden Reservoir locale= Spencer maint= Spencer, Massachusetts length= 85 ft (25.9 m) height=… …   Wikipedia

  • Sugden, Oklahoma — Infobox Settlement official name = Sugden, Oklahoma settlement type = Town nickname = motto = imagesize = image caption = image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location of Sugden, Oklahoma mapsize1 = map caption1 = subdivision type = Country… …   Wikipedia

  • Sugden Reservoir — Infobox lake lake name = Sugden Reservoir image lake = SugdenReservoir.jpg caption lake = image bathymetry = caption bathymetry = coords = coord|42|16|17|N|71|58|06|W|type:waterbody region:US|display=inline,title type = Reservoir inflow = outflow …   Wikipedia

  • Sugden — This surname is of Anglo Saxon origin, and is derived from a Northern English locational place so called in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The component elements in the name are the Olde English pre 7th Century sucga , a sparrow, or the personal… …   Surnames reference

  • Victoria Sugden — Isabel Hodgins as Victoria Sugden. Emmerdale character Portrayed by Jessica Heywood (1994–98) Hannah Midgley (1998–2006) …   Wikipedia

  • Jack Sugden — Infobox Emmerdale character 2 name=Jack Sugden portrayer=Andrew Burt (1972–1974, 1976) Clive Hornby (1980–2008) years=1972–1974, 1976, 1980–2008 born= 28 November 1947 (age age|1947|11|28) creator = Kevin Laffan first = 16 October 1972 last =21… …   Wikipedia

  • Diane Sugden — Diane in 2009 Emmerdale character Portrayed by Elizabeth Estensen Created by Kieran Roberts Duration …   Wikipedia

  • Andy Sugden — Infobox Emmerdale character 2 name=Andy Sugden portrayer=Kelvin Fletcher years=1996 ndash; born= 28 January 1986 death= home=Butler s Farm occupation=Farmer family= father= Billy Hopwood adoptivefather= Jack Sugden adoptivemother = Sarah Conolly… …   Wikipedia

  • Sarah Sugden — This article is about the Emmerdale character who was a wife of Jack Sugden. For the Emmerdale character who is the daughter of Andy Sugden, see Sarah Dingle. Sarah Sugden Alyson Spiro as Sarah Sudgen in 1999. Emmerdale character Portray …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”