Robert Sugden

Storylines
A character that was born on the show, Robert was notorious for the number of romantic relationships in which he engaged and for his long standing feud with his adoptive brother Andy Sugden (Kelvin Fletcher), because Andy was responsible for a fire that killed his stepmother, Sarah, who had brought him up after Robert's biological mother, Pat, had died in a car crash when he was only four months old. This feud led to several violent incidents and escalated when Robert began an affair with Katie Addyman (Sammy Winward), Andy's fiancee. This resulted in Andy attempting to shoot Robert and Katie, wounding his father, Jack, in the process.

Robert and Katie stayed together until Katie found out about Robert's affair with Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) and left Emmerdale. Robert then began a relationship with Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb), mother of Andy's daughter, Sarah, planning to take her and Sarah away from the village and hurt Andy again. Debbie was devastated as she thought he cared for her but it had always been about little Sarah.

Robert left Emmerdale in October 2005, following an accident in which Max King (Charlie Kemp) was killed when Andy's Land Rover overturned and burst into flames after Robert drove his car at them and ran them off the road. His father Jack told him to leave to avoid being prosecuted for dangerous driving.

Robert returned along with his grandmother Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier) to Emmerdale for a one-off special which aired on 10 February 2009 to attend Jack Sugden's (Clive Hornby) funeral.[1] However, he could not bring himself to attend the service, and drove away after Andy attempted to get him to take over responsibility of the farm. He later went to the grave and placed a flower there before saying goodbye to his father for the last time and leaving again. When Andy, his half-brother Daz, Jack's widow Diane and Robert's younger half-sister Victoria visited the grave Andy saw the flower and realising that Robert had been there, he told Victoria that he knew Robert would have come if he could.