Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) totally puts her foot in it when she drives Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) to an old friend’s funeral in a new Emmerdale video clip. She sits down to make awkward small-talk with a stranger, little realising that the man she’s talking to is her own half-brother, John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth).
As they arrive at the church, Eric dashes off to talk to an acquaintance about his wife’s shingles, leaving Victoria holding the flowers that he’s brought.
She goes to sit on a bench next to a man who’s obviously dressed for the funeral. Victoria assumes he could be an ex-pupil of the deceased woman, who used to be a teacher.
She gets that bit right, but not the woman’s name. The stranger corrects her. The woman was called Barbara and was ‘a bit of a battle-axe,’ he says.
Victoria suggests that might be why there aren’t many mourners but the man says there are more round the back of the church. He’s avoiding the sympathy, he says – because Barbara was his mum.
Victoria is obviously shocked by this revelation and embarrassed at how she spoke to the bereaved son. But that’s only the first of the shocks to come for her when Eric later tells her that the man she was speaking to is her brother, John Sugden.
John and Victoria have the same dad, Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby), but different mothers. Victoria has grown up totally unaware that she has another brother, and Isabel Hodgins told us that she’s delighted by the news and wants to have a good relationship with John, even though they didn’t get off to the best start.
‘She adores him,’ the actress confirmed.
She told us that Victoria tries to do everything in her power to get John to stick around in Emmerdale when he ends up there after his van breaks down, even though he’s very defensive at first.
‘She’s like, “I’ve got a week to bring him round and make him love the idea of being in my family, and to try and make him stay.” And he is strongly against that. He’s not cruel, but he’s just very clear with – “this is where I find myself. I’m not staying. I don’t want any part of this. As nice as you are, thank you, but no, thank you.” But she’s trying to be like, “please love me.”’
