The Woolpack Siege

The Woolpack Siege was a major storyline in Emmerdale in 2013. It involved Cameron Murray putting everyone in The Woolpack hostage before his death, threatening to shoot anyone that tried to escape.

Plot
Having murdered Carl King the year before, Cameron Murray had gone on to proceed in killing both Alex Moss in December 2012 and Genesis Walker in July 2013, in desperate attempts to keep his first murder a secret. Cameron's crimes were soon exposed by Debbie and Chas Dingle in September 2013 and he was consequently arrested and jailed. However, Cameron escaped from police custody and secretly returned to the village.

While the village was hit by torrential rain, Cameron first scared Debbie by taking her daughter Sarah to an abandoned barn, leading Debbie to believe she had been snatched, before leaving Sarah in the barn to get Debbie and Jack and bring them back to the barn. She is later rescued by Andy  and Moira Barton who hear Sarah shouting and banging at the door. Later that night, Cameron stole Zak Dingle's shotgun and headed off for The Woolpack. Breaking in through the back door, Cameron knocked out Marlon Dingle and locked him in the cellar before entering the pub, armed with the stolen gun, taking Alicia Gallagher, Bernice Blackstock, Chas, Dan Spencer, David Metcalfe, Debbie Dingle, Diane Sugden, Jack, Nicola King, Priya Sharma, Ruby Haswell and Zak hostage inside, vowing to shoot them if they threatened him.

As police began to cordon off the area and negotiate with Cameron, he told Debbie that he came back for her and wanted to flee the village with her to start a new life but she refused to do so. As Zak and Chas attempted to take matters into their own hands, Chas hit Cameron on the head with a chair just as he pulled the trigger on the shotgun and shot Alicia directly in the stomach.

Cameron eventually freed everyone with the exception of Chas and Debbie, as he still demanded to leave with Debbie. Whilst all this was going on, Marlon, still locked in the cellar, came round to discover the cellar was on the verge of flooding as rainwater continued to gush in quickly. Managing to escape, he hit Cameron round the head with a bottle and took possession of the gun. Meanwhile, Chas and Debbie now found themselves in the flooding cellar as Cameron had sent them to investigate a noise that Marlon had made to distract Cameron. After a struggle, Marlon overpowered Cameron and escaped just as the lights in the pub went out and armed police raided the building.

Debbie and Chas struggled to escape the rising floodwaters in the cellar, particularly as Cameron was now with them and constantly tried to pull them underwater so that they would drown. With the help of the police, Debbie and Chas were able to get out and just as Cameron followed them, he came into contact with the cellar light that had dropped into the water and was still switched on. The light electrocuted Cameron, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Alicia's life hung in the balance as she flatlined and was given CPR. Surgeons managed to restart her heart but as she was still in a grave condition, she was taken back into theatre for further surgery.

Hostages in the siege included: The siege won "Spectacular Scene of the Year" at The British Soap Awards 2014, under the title of "The Woolpack siege and flood". The award was accepted by Charley Webb (Debbie) and Mark Charnock (Marlon).
 * Debbie Dingle
 * Chas Dingle
 * Zak Dingle
 * Diane Sugden
 * Bernice Blackstock
 * Nicola King
 * Marlon Dingle
 * Priya Sharma
 * David Metcalfe
 * Alicia Gallagher
 * Ruby Haswell
 * Dan Spencer
 * Jack Sugden Jr.