Emmerdale in 2015

2015 is Emmerdale's 44th and current year. Production is overseen by Series Producer Kate Oates.

Main Cast
(as of Episode 7232 (10th July 2015))

January

 * Belle attempts to silence Gemma's torment by taking legal highs dealt to her by Lachlan. When he decides to try the high himself, he has a seizure and slips into unconsciousness. He is rushed to hospital and soon makes a full recovery. In order to keep him out of trouble, Chrissie agrees to let him join David and Alicia's kids football team. Lachlan soon takes a shine to hanging around the pair and becomes inspired by David's tattoos, getting one of his own. David steadily starts to feel uneasy as he believes Lachlan to have a man-crush on him, but Lachlan seems to have his sights on Alicia.
 * Aaron and Robert continue their affair but Robert warns Aaron that it will end when he marries Chrissie. Katie begins to believe that Robert is having an affair and intends to expose him.
 * Finn tracks down his mum, Emma, in Hotten and introduces himself to her. The pair initially agree to meet in private but Finn later breaks the news to the rest of the family that he's tracked her down. Pete especially doesn't take the news well and unsuccessfully tries to manipulate Finn into giving up seeing his mother. Emma soon comes face to face with Ross and Pete following a bar fight and introduces herself to them. Pete is adamant he wants nothing to do with her but Ross is curious and agrees to keep seeing her. Ross breaks the news to Emma that her suspicions of James having an affair with Moira all those years ago came out to be true last summer and that they had a child together - Adam. Emma storms across to The Woolpack and slaps James, before subtly threatening Moira - her first contact with both of them in twenty two years. Pete confides in James that he remembers seeing Emma attempting to smother Ross when they were younger. Meanwhile, Ross and Finn become attached to Emma and stage a break-in at her house in order to unnerve her into needing to move in with them. As Pete continues to resent her, Emma begs James to try to win him around. When he refuses to help, the two become involved in an argument on the farm and Emma swings out in frustration at a hoist causing a pallet to fall down on James. Emma initially leaves him for dead but is forced to turn back and help when she witnesses Pete approaching. James remembers nothing of the incident and thanks her for saving his life while Pete agrees to give her a chance in order to show his gratitude.
 * Cain collapses in the garage and soon reveals to Charity that he's been having dizzy spells and blacking out. She forces him to go to the hospital where he's told he has a brain aneurism, brought on by his head injury a few years ago. Initially keeping the news quiet from everyone bar Charity, the news comes out when he collapses in the brook and is taken off to hospital. Moira persuades him to overcome his fears of having the operation. He does, the following day, and the operation is deemed a success.
 * Jai and Megan tie the knot but find their family threatened when Rachel Breckle returns to the village with Archie and Jai discovers the son he bought believing was his is actually somebody elses. The news hits Megan hard and she attempts to abduct the boy before handing him over to Social Services.
 * Tracy Shankley returns to the village much to Sam's surprise and begins paying back what she owes to the Dingles. Val takes pity on her when she hears of Tracy's abusive former boyfriend and agrees to put her up in the spare room at The Grange. Tracy soon becomes involved in a relationship with Sam as Kerry tries to break them up in order to reunite Sam with Rachel.
 * Katie finds Belle talking to Gemma and alerts Zak and Lisa that Belle isn't well. Belle locks herself in Katie's car as Gemma instructs Belle to run Zak down. Belle overcomes her torment to prevent causing anymore harm and finally admits she needs help. She attends a doctor's appointment where she is prescribed pills that help to stop the voices, but leave her feeling emotionless.
 * Charity is sentenced to two years in prison for perverting the course of justice as Rachel returns to the village in order to give evidence against her. As Charity is led away, she confesses to Cain that she loves him and wants to be with him when she is released.
 * Nicola is told that she's experiencing early menopause.
 * Adam and Aaron launch a scrap business together in the village with Adam selling his share in the farm in order to fund it. They encounter a problem when Eric threatens to complain about the location of their business - next to his Barn Conversion, but is won round when Adam offers him a 5% share in the business on the condition it's kept quiet from Val.
 * Victoria and Adam begin seeing each other again.
 * Marlon and Laurel agree to an alcohol-free January.

February

 * Katie and Andy begin moving their stuff over to a caravan on Wylie's Farm. Robert secretly sets fire to it when Katie refuses to drop her accusations of an affair and she soon works out that he was responsible for the fire. Andy grows irritated by her attempts to pin everything on Robert and begins to wonder if he wants to be with her at all. Fed up with everything being on Robert's terms, Aaron decides to get his own back and confesses to Katie that Robert has been having an affair - with him. He lures Robert to Wylie's Farm as Katie lurks in the background and takes a picture as he and Aaron kiss. Confronting Robert about the affair, they become involved in a tussle and Robert pushes Katie. She falls to the floor and straight through the rotten floorboards to her death. Robert recruits Aaron to help cover up any clues that may incriminate them, lying that Katie had deleted the photo of their kiss from her phone and was going to remain quiet about the affair. He manipulates Aaron into believing he is responsible for Katie's death by calling her up to Wylie's Farm to expose the affair and they leave Katie lying dead on the floor for somebody to find. Andy eventually finds Katie and her death is deemed accidental as Aaron struggles with his guilt. He admits to Paddy and Chas that Katie was right about Robert's affair and confesses it was him who Robert was seeing, before warning them that it must never be revealed. Andy sinks into depression and soon decides to take his own life. Robert and Aaron find him and stop him just in time and the Sugdens realise they need to keep a closer eye on him.
 * Laurel is irritable as Paddy makes a bet with her and Marlon to another month without alcohol, the loser buying the other couple a meal. Doug soon manages to talk her out of it and she secretly shares drinks with him. Marlon foils her however and the pair soon agree to drop the bet. Her drinking takes a turn for the worse however, when she turns up drunk and late for work and then goes on to insult Jai, not realising he's in the room. Jai sacks her and refuses to reconsider when she returns the next day to beg for her job. She manages to arrange an interview for a job in Hotten but soon finds herself seeking comfort from the bottle again when she misses her bus and the company refuse to rearrange her interview.
 * Tracy continues to rub her relationship with Sam in Rachel's face. Realising she has little chance of ever repairing her relationship with Sam, Rachel applies for a job in Luton and soon finds out she has been successful. Megan overhears the news but decides to keep it quiet from Jai. As Rachel prepares to leave, Ali tries to make Sam see sense while Leyla pushes Megan to tell Jai the truth. Sam and Jai unite in order to stop Rachel from leaving as Jai tells Rachel that he wants to be a part of Archie's life and Sam confesses he's still in love with her and has ends things with Tracy. Rachel decides to stay in the village. Quietly sickened by his wife's betrayal, Jai makes a call to his solicitor.
 * Rodney is horrified when Georgia shows interest in moving in to Tug Ghyll with him. He pays Leyla to put Georgia off the idea but when that fails to work, he admits he doesn't want to move in with her and thinks they should end their relationship before leaving for a break in Europe. When he returns, Georgia tries to pick up their relationship but he insists he's only interested in sleeping with her rather than a relationship. She slaps him before telling him there's no chance.
 * Emma's relationship with Ross and Finn is tested as she finds out Ross was responsible for the break-in as a way of getting her to move in with them. Pete is angry when he finds the pair feeling guilty and blurts out how Emma tried to kill Ross when he was younger, leaving him devastated. Emma tries to explain to them about her post-natal depression but the Barton boys begin to wonder if they've done the right thing letting their mother back into their lives. Ross confides in Debbie who encourages him to give his mother a chance.
 * Alicia and David's relationship with Chrissie and Lachlan continues to grow as Chrissie asks Alicia to be her back-up bridesmaid when her sister is unable to attend her wedding. Lachlan's obsession with Alicia also continues to grow as he begins to bunk off school, lying to Chrissie, in order to offer his assistance in the shop. David is confused when Alicia receives a Valentine's gift that wasn't sent by him and soon discovers Lachlan is responsible when she also receives a handbag she had commented on in front of him. David warns Lachlan off but he refuses to listen and turns up at the shop the next day offering his assistance. When David has to rush off to the hospital with Amba, a tipsy Alicia returns home after celebrating her birthday. Lachlan waits for Alicia to fall asleep before unbuttoning her shorts and sexually assualting her. Alicia wakes to discover what Lachlan is doing and, petrified, calls the police on him and confides in Leyla and David. Lachlan is arrested, to Chrissie's horror, but spins the story saying he was involved in a relationship with Alicia. Disgusted, Chrissie pushes for Alicia to be punished for grooming Lachlan.
 * Priya recruits Kirin to help Jai realise she's a necessity at the factory and Jai's soon offering her a full-time position.
 * Belle feels guilty when she feels numb over Katie's death and stops taking her medication. In doing so, Gemma's voice returns to taunt her and she goes up to Wylie's Farm to commit suicide. Cain grabs her before she has the chance to jump from the rafters and she is sectioned to the adolescent mental health unit.
 * Emma is upset when James asks her for a divorce but later agrees. Harboring deep dislike for both Moira and Adam, Emma secretly causes friction at the scrapyard by switching signs on a car for scrap, forcing the wrong one to be scrapped. She's later delighted to see an argument between Adam and Aaron lead to one between James and Chas too. Moira soon works out that Emma's meddling is responsible and warns her not to interfere with their lives again as she has far more to lose now she's just beginning to build bridges with her sons.
 * Pearl is shocked to discover that she's been underpaying her gas bill and is now heavily in debt. She returns to gambling as a way of trying to pay off her bills.
 * Nicola is down as she begins to believe she is past it. She is disappointed in Jimmy when he calls the police on her, believing her to have snatched Amba after taking her for a walk, when she had been locked in a barn after sheltering from rain.
 * Harriet decides to start a career as a Private Investigator.
 * Cain takes Noah to see Charity in prison. Charity assures Cain that she meant everything she said about wanting to be with him when she gets out.

March

 * The aftermath of Lachlan's sexual assault on Alicia creates waves as battle lines are drawn between the Metcalfes and the Whites. The Whites find themselves in an awful situation as the villagers support Alicia but Chrissie fails to see through her son's lies and decides to counter battle Alicia for grooming. As the police drop both cases for lack of evidence, Alicia begins to worry whether she was responsible for her assault and begins to think she did lead Lachlan on. After another confrontation with Lachlan, David decides to make him pay and kidnaps him, scaring him witless in a barn in a bid to make him confess. Chrissie discovers Lachlan's camera, full of pictures of Alicia, and confronts him, realising that her son has been lying. Chrissie apologises to Alicia and reports Lachlan to the police and is left to await the outcome of his court hearing.
 * Jimmy gets a shock when Lawrence sends Nicola to Dubai on a business trip he can't make and she returns having being offered a job there on a six month contract. Initially agreeing to go along with her, Jimmy changes his mind when at the airport and they return home with Nicola questioning whether she can forgive Jimmy for ruining a once in a lifetime chance for her. Jimmy eventually agrees to let Nicola go alone and she leaves Angelica behind with him.
 * Zak and Lisa are pleased to see Belle coping in the mental-health unit when they visit her on the eve of Gemma's death. She returns home mid-month, having felt ready to return home but causes rifts in the family when Rachel refuses to allow her near Archie.
 * Pearl finds herself in great debt when her gambling spirals out of control and she begins stealing from the vets. When she's nearly caught out, she begins to feign alzheimers for mislaying money but when Vanessa finds an IOU book she's been keeping, Paddy and Rhona confront Pearl who finds it hard to wriggle out of her lies. A furious Paddy sacks her and Pearl sells her house back to Eric in order to pay back the money she stole. She packs and leaves the village but Rhona and Paddy discover her plan and convince her to say, sure they will be able to rebuild their trust soon.
 * Val suffers a health scare and ends up in hospital with pneumonia. Paul Lambert returns to visit her as her family and friends are informed that she's unlikely to pull through. Val eventually regains consciousness and is informed that she needs to start taking HIV medication. She becomes severely depressed as she struggles to accept the fact that she'll be on medication for life and begins to question whether it's worth it. Finn begins dating Darren Thompson, a hospital nurse who tended to Val, but soon news reaches him and his friends that Darren is also HIV positive. Val becomes scared for Finn and attempts to scare Darren off by sending him abusive text messages and vandalising his car. Finn eventually finds out and is livid with her.
 * Rachel sets Tracy up to move in with Dan and Kerry but Kerry soon has enough of her and kicks her out. She winds up moving in with a grieving Andy who kicks Leyla and Vanessa out of Tug Ghyll and starts sleeping with her. Tracy returns to The Grange later in the month when Andy begins to scare her, leading Andy to realise that is behaviour has been spiraling out of control. He apologises to all that he's hurt and moves in with Victoria at Keepers Cottage.
 * Laurel begins working for Bernice and Kerry as an events hostess. She begins to turn to the bottle more and more and Doug begins to pick up on the amount she's drinking, even secretly hospitalising April at one point who picks up a mug of vodka. Doug threatens to expose her problem to Marlon but Laurel kicks him out and threatens to stop him seeing his grandchildren if he breathes a word.
 * Bob is astounded when his daughter Carly turns up in a wedding dress dragging Bob off to the ceremony about to start. As Bob speaks to her about her other half, Sunil Malla, he realises Carly does not love him and is only marrying for his money. He talks her out of the wedding and Carly returns to the village to temporarily live with him and Brenda. Bob is delighted at the chance of rebuilding his ropey relationship with his daughter. Carly begins dating Ross who is soon shocked to discover that Carly is Donna's step-sister.
 * Vanessa suffers a health scare when Kirin finds a lump in her breast. Their relationship falls apart as Kirin is unable to support her and Vanessa faces a worrying wait for her test results alone, with only the support of Rhona.
 * Robert confesses to Aaron that he had no part in Katie's death, explaining how they rowed and she fell. He tells Aaron he loves him and the pair restart their affair.
 * Adam publicly proposes to Victoria on her birthday, leaving her feeling pressured into saying yes. When she finally builds up the courage to tell him she's not yet ready to marry him, Adam is devastated and spends the night with a lonely Vanessa.

Who lives where
Main Street
 * Mulberry Cottage - Debbie Dingle. Sarah and Jack Sugden. Pete Barton.
 * The Grange - Tracy Shankley (January onwards).
 * The Woolpack - Diane Sugden. Chas Dingle. James Barton. Aaron Livesy. Doug Potts (March onwards).
 * Woodbine Cottage - Edna Birch. Sandy Thomas.
 * Tug Ghyll - Katie Sugden (until February). Leyla Harding. Vanessa Woodfield. Andy Sugden (March only). Tracy Shankley (March only).
 * Dale Head - Dan Spencer. Kerry Wyatt.
 * Mill Cottage - Jimmy, Nicola and Angelica King. Bernice Blackstock and Gabby Thomas.
 * Dale View - Andy Sugden. Ross Barton. Finn and Emma Barton (January onwards).
 * Connelton View - Brenda Walker. Bob, Heath and Cathy Hope. Rodney Blackstock. Carly Hope (March onwards).
 * Victoria Cottage - Priya Sharma, Rakesh and Kirin Kotecha. Amba Metcalfe.
 * Keepers Cottage - Betty Eagleton. Victoria Sugden. Andy Sugden (March onwards).
 * Brook Cottage - Harriet Finch. Ashley Thomas.

Church Lane
 * Farrers Barn - David and Alicia Metcalfe. Jacob Gallagher.
 * Tenant Cottage - Ali and Amelia Spencer. Ruby Haswell. Rachel and Archie Breckle. (January onwards).
 * Jacobs Fold - Pearl Ladderbanks (until April).

Hotten Road
 * Smithy Cottage - Paddy Kirk. Rhona and Leo Goskirk. Pearl Ladderbanks (April onwards).
 * Butler's Farm - Moira, Cain and Noah Dingle. Adam Barton. Finn Barton (until January). Charity Dingle (until January).

Cricketer's Row
 * Tall Trees Cottage - Marlon and Laurel Dingle. Arthur Thomas. April Windsor. Doug Potts (until March).

Robblesfield Way
 * Pollard's Barn - Eric and Val Pollard.
 * Wishing Well Cottage - Zak, Lisa, Sam, Belle and Samson Dingle.
 * Holdgate Farm - Jai and Rishi Sharma. Georgia Sharma (March onwards). Megan Macey. 'Archie Breckle' (until January).

Connelton Lane Others
 * Home Farm - Lawrence, Chrissie and Lachlan White. Robert Sugden (until July). 
 * Wylie's Farm - Vacant.
 * Unknown residence - Georgia Sharma (until March).

Who works where
Main Street
 * The Grange - Eric and Val Pollard. Finn Barton. Tracy Shankley (January to February, March onwards)
 * The Woolpack - Diane and Victoria Sugden. Chas and Marlon Dingle. Priya Sharma. Alicia Metcalfe.
 * Beauty & Bernice - Bernice Blackstock. Kerry Wyatt.
 * Take A Vow - Megan Macey. Leyla Harding.
 * Dingle & Dingle Automotives - Debbie and Cain Dingle. Dan Spencer. Aaron Livesy.
 * Café Main Street - Bob Hope. Brenda Walker. Ruby Haswell.

Church Lane
 * David's - David and Alicia Metcalfe.
 * St. Mary's Church - Ashley Thomas.

Hotten Road
 * Vet's Surgery - Paddy Kirk. Rhona Goskirk. Vanessa Woodfield. Pearl Ladderbanks.

Other
 * Butler's Farm - Moira and Zak Dingle. Adam, James and Pete Barton. Andy Sugden.
 * Sharma & Sharma Sweet Factory - Jai and Rishi Sharma. Lisa Dingle. Laurel Thomas (until February). Ali Spencer.
 * Home Farm - Lawrence White. Chrissie and Robert Sugden (until July). Nicola King (until March). Sam Dingle.
 * Holy Scrap - Aaron Livesy. Adam Barton.
 * Emmerdale Haulage/Home James Haulage - Jimmy King. Charity Dingle (until January). Tracy Shankley (from May).

Awards and Nominations
National Television Awards British Soap Awards
 * Best Newcomer: Michael Parr (Nominee)
 * Best Serial Drama Performance: Verity Rushworth (Nominee)
 * Best Serial Drama: Emmerdale (Nominee)
 * Best Actor: Michael Parr (Nominee)
 * Best Actress: Natalie Anderson (Nominee)
 * Villain of the Year: Ryan Hawley (Nominee)
 * Best Comedy Performance: Laura Norton (Nominee)
 * Best Newcomer: Ryan Hawley (Nominee)
 * Best Storyline: Donna's demise (Nominee)
 * Best Single Episode: Andy goes to the brink (Episode 7110/7111 (19th February 2015)) (Nominee)
 * Best Dramatic Performance: Natalie Anderson (Nominee)
 * Best On-Screen Partnership: Verity Rushworth and Michael Parr (Nominee)
 * Best Young Performer: Amelia Flanagan (Winner)
 * Scene of the Year: Donna's goodbye (Winner)