Not to be confused with her late adoptive grandmother Sarah Sugden.
Sarah Sugden is the daughter of Andy Sugden and Debbie Dingle and the older sister of Jack Sugden. She is named after Andy's late adoptive mother.
Biography[]
2005: Birth and leaving with Emily[]
Fifteen-year-old Debbie discovered she was pregnant in January 2005 after her family stopped her from seeing boyfriend Andy. She hid the pregnancy from everyone, except Andy's brother Daz Eden, who only discovered Debbie was pregnant days before she gave birth. Daz tried to persuade Debbie to see the new doctor, Adam Forsythe, but she didn't go through with the appointment as she planned to abandon the baby at the hospital, so it could be adopted by a nice family.
Debbie gives birth to Sarah
On 6th June 2005, Debbie gave birth to a baby girl in Seth's hide whilst Daz went to get help from Emily Kirk and the doctor. The baby stopped moving and turned blue just after she was born but Emily managed to warm her up and got her breathing again. Adam checked Debbie and the baby over and took them to Emily's house where he broke the news to Debbie's family that she had given birth. They were shocked but vowed to look after Debbie and the baby. Debbie's father Cain was shocked to discover that he was a grandfather but soon came round and bonded with the baby. Debbie decided to name the baby Sarah after Andy's late adoptive mother. Andy's family were not happy with the baby being called Sarah, especially his brother Robert, who was furious that Andy would name his daughter after the woman he accidentally killed.
Debbie and Andy restarted their relationship and tried to be a family but Andy realised he no longer loved Debbie so when Sarah was barely a month old, Andy and Debbie split up. Debbie considered putting Sarah up for adoption but her family managed to change her mind and Emily moved in with the Dingles at Wishing Well Cottage to help Debbie with Sarah. Debbie soon began a relationship with Robert who persuaded Debbie to take Sarah and come with him to London, although he really only wanted to take Sarah away from Andy, leaving Debbie heart-broken.
Sarah with her family at her christening
Debbie struggled with juggling Sarah and being a teenager and often left Sarah with Emily, Lisa or Cain. Sarah was christened was in St. Mary's Church in December 2005 with Daz and Emily as her god-parents. After the christening, Debbie handed Sarah over to Emily who took her and left the village. The Dingle's and Sugdens were furious with Debbie for giving Sarah away. Cain tried to find Emily and baby Sarah and bring Sarah home but didn't succeed.
2006-2010: Return to the village and custody battle[]
In October 2006, Emily took Sarah back to the village and left her on Andy's doorstep after curate Ethan Blake managed to persuade her that Sarah should be with her dad.
Debbie agreed that Andy could have custody of their daughter as long as she was not part of Sarah's life. Andy remained suspicious of Emily, and was furious to discover Emily had gotten a job at Sarah's nursery. Emily didn't take the job after seeing the animosity that Andy had caused her amongst the other parents.
In October 2007, Lisa tried to get Debbie to be part of Sarah's life after making sure they spent an afternoon together, however, Debbie refused and said she would be happy to allow Andy's partner, Jo Stiles, to adopt her, but Debbie couldn't bring herself to sign the adoption papers. When Andy was sent to prison in early 2008, Jo looked after Sarah and allowed Debbie to start seeing her. Andy was furious to realise that Jo has been allowing Debbie contact with Sarah and hit her, which began months of violence and resulted in Jo ending up in hospital on two occasions. Sarah could sense the problems at home and was suspended from nursery after biting another child. Jo confided in Debbie about the abuse, which caused Andy to move out of Butlers Farm, although Andy was allowed supervised access to Sarah.
Jo left the village in December 2008 and reluctantly left Sarah at the Dingles. The Dingles barred Andy from seeing Sarah and they tried to persuade Debbie to get custody, but she refused, as unknown to everyone else at the time, Debbie was worried about being arrested for her part in the cover-up of the murder of police officer Shane Doyle.
The Dingles allowed Sarah to stay with Andy after his adoptive father Jack Sugden's funeral but they later banned Andy access to Sarah after Andy told the police of fugitive Cain's return to the country. However, the Dingles were forced to give Andy custody of Sarah when Debbie was sent to prison for her part in Shane's murder in March 2009.
After Debbie was released from prison she wanted visitation access to Sarah but Andy denied her any contact with Sarah which caused Debbie to apply for full custody instead. Andy tried to run off to Spain with Sarah, as he was afraid of losing her, but Debbie managed to stop him. A few days later, on 3rd June 2009, Debbie was awarded full custody after Andy withdrew his application due to Jo's statement about Andy's violence.
Sarah moved into Tug Ghyll with Debbie and Cain. In October of that year, Sarah met her granny Charity and young uncle Noah for the first time when they returned to the village after five years away. Charity and Noah soon moved into Tug Ghyll with them. Debbie grew fed up of Charity and Cain's rows, so in March 2010, she decided to take up a new job and move to Jersey. Sarah made visits back to see Andy and in November, Debbie and Sarah moved back permanently.
2011-2012: Illness and saviour sibling[]
In 2011, Andy's girlfriend Alicia Gallagher got Sarah's ears pierced behind Debbie's back. Andy was not particularly impressed but Debbie was furious. Not long after Debbie and Andy began to worry that there was something wrong with Sarah after she complained of feeling tired and bruised easily. Debbie was worried that someone was hurting Sarah and even questioned her own boyfriend Cameron Murray. Debbie booked a doctor's appointment and after months of tests, it was revealed that Sarah was suffering from a rare genetic disease Fanconi anaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Debbie and Andy and all of Sarah's relatives had tests to see if they were a match for the transplant, but none were. Many villagers also got tested but again none of them were matches. Debbie and Andy eventually found a match but sadly the donor pulled out at the last minute.
Debbie and Andy eventually decided that the only way to save their daughter was to have a saviour sibling. Neither Cameron nor Alicia were happy but they decided to go ahead with it anyway. Debbie and Andy were turned down for IVF, so they began artificial insemination to try to get Debbie pregnant. After some negative pregnancy tests, Debbie concluded the only way she could get pregnant was to sleep with Andy.
In late January 2012, Debbie discovered she was pregnant. Alicia told Sarah about the pregnancy, which angered Debbie as they didn't know whether or not the baby was a match for Sarah yet. However, they were relieved when the test revealed that the baby was a match.
Debbie at Sarah's bedside
In September, Sarah took a turn for the worst whilst Cameron was looking after her. At the hospital Debbie and Andy were told that Sarah was fast developing leukaemia so Debbie demanded to be induced but the doctors told Debbie that it was not safe enough for Sarah or her unborn baby. On the day that Debbie was to be induced, she went into labour. Sarah became a big sister when Debbie gave birth to a baby boy on 17th October 2012, who Debbie and Andy named Jack, after Andy's late adoptive father. The day after Jack was born Debbie discovered that Cameron had been cheating on her with her aunt Chas, and ended their relationship. The doctors were able to transplant the bone marrow from Jack and the following month, Sarah had her transplant. After spending nearly a month in isolation in hospital, Sarah was allowed home and her family threw her a party.
2013-2016: Fire and moving to France[]
In the following months, Debbie threw herself into work, determined to provide a better future for her children which meant she heavily relied on babysitters and often left Sarah and Jack with Andy's new girlfriend Kerry Wyatt, which Kerry was not particularly happy about. Kerry left Sarah and Jack alone numerous times whilst babysitting. Kerry's daughter Amy tried to warn Debbie and Andy about this, but Kerry managed to manipulate Sarah into lying for her. In May 2013, Debbie left her children with drunk Kerry, who accidentally set fire to Dale View. Sarah managed to get out of the house and raise the alarm.
The following month, Sarah confided in her tutor about all the problems at home which resulted in the tutor phoning social services. Debbie was furious and accused her family members of calling social services at Sarah's birthday party. After a visit from a social worker, Sarah admitted she told her tutor about the problems at home and Debbie realised that it was the tutor who reported her. Andy took Sarah and Jack to live with him whilst Debbie got herself sorted and even threatened to go for full custody of their children.
Cameron stops Debbie from running away with Sarah and Jack
Debbie managed to persuade Andy's step-mother Diane to let her see her children for five minutes which gave her enough time to snatch the children and head for the airport. Debbie planned to run away to Palma, as she was scared of losing Sarah and Jack forever but Cameron stopped her and took them home. Andy kept Sarah and Jack's passports but allowed them to move back in with Debbie. Debbie and Cameron restarted their relationship but Debbie soon discovered that Cameron had murdered her cousin Gennie Walker as well as Alex Moss and Carl King. Debbie got Andy to take the children for a few days whilst she wore a wire so she could get Cameron to confess to the murders, and subsequently, he was arrested. Andy was furious with Debbie for potentially putting Sarah and Jack in harm's way.
In October 2013, Cameron escaped whilst being transferred between prisons and scared Debbie by taking Sarah to an abandoned barn, leading Debbie to believe she had been snatched, before leaving Sarah in the barn. She is later rescued by Andy and Moira Barton who hear Sarah shouting and banging at the door. Meanwhile, Cameron held a siege at the pub, holding many hostage, including Debbie and Jack, inside. Debbie only just managed to escape the pub before Cameron electrocuted himself. Debbie couldn't stand living in Tug Ghyll with all the bad memories so she bought Mulberry Cottage, and she Sarah and Jack moved in.
In 2014, Debbie began a relationship with farmer Pete Barton, who both Sarah and Jack adored. Sarah was a bridesmaid when Debbie and Pete got married but the marriage was short-lived. After Debbie threw Pete out, Cain made his daughter see her relationship choices also affected Sarah and Jack so Debbie vowed to put her children first. In September 2015, Debbie took Sarah to the doctor's as she had a persistent cough. Due to Sarah's previous ill health, Dr Bailey took bloods. The blood test came back normal, although Pete's mother Emma manipulated the results to get back at Debbie for cheating on Pete with his brother Ross. More bloods were taken and Debbie and Andy were relieved to learn Sarah was not ill again and still in remission.
Sarah wasn't happy when Ross moved into Mulberry Cottage as she still missed Pete. Sarah tried to split Debbie and Ross up but Debbie could see what she was doing and wouldn't let it happen. On New Year's Eve, Debbie discovered Ross and Andy's involvement in Robert's shooting three months previously so she took Sarah and Jack and drove away from the village. Debbie took her children to France, with only Cain aware of their location. In April 2016, Debbie finally relented and allowed Cain to pass on her contact details to Andy, who took the first flight to France to see his children. Whilst in France, Sarah was diagnosed with throat cancer.
2017-2019: Return, cancer and heart failure[]
Sarah returns to Emmerdale
Debbie, Sarah and Jack returned home to Emmerdale in January 2017. Sarah and Jack were kidnapped by a couple of thugs as Debbie had stolen money from her old boss. Cain, Charity, Debbie and Ross managed to raise the money for Sarah and Jack to be released. Debbie soon informed her family about Sarah cancer. Sarah's best bet was proton beam therapy, but due to her prognosis, this was not available on the NHS so a crowdfunding page was set up to help pay for the costs of going private. A mystery donation of £20,000 was made to the page. A few days later, Sarah found a woman in the barn at Wishing Well Cottage and began bringing her food and medicine. Sarah was delighted when the woman was revealed to be her great-grandmother. Faith confessed she was the one who donated the £20,000 and ended up accompanying Sarah to Prague for her cancer treatment as Debbie was on police bail and couldn't leave the country. Sarah responded well to the treatment and when she returned to England, she underwent an operation that also was successful.
Sarah was delighted when she, Debbie and Jack moved in Jacobs Fold in November 2017 and she was soon introduced to Debbie's rich new boyfriend Tom Waterhouse. Sarah and Tom got on well, and Tom showered Sarah with gifts, including a platinum private health insurance policy after hearing about Sarah's condition following a quad bike crash. However, not long after in January 2018, it was revealed that Tom was actually, Joe Tate, Charity's former stepson and used Debbie to get back at Charity, who he blamed for his father's death.
After Joe revealed himself, Debbie asked Simon McManus to hurt Joe but instead, he ended up throwing acid in Ross's face. Sarah found out and was furious with her mum, refusing to talk to her. On 12th June 2018, Sarah, along with Noah, Leanna Cavanagh and Jacob Gallagher steal Joe's car and goes joyriding. Whilst the rest of her accomplices got away, Sarah was caught and arrested. In a shocking twist, Sarah grassed Debbie out to the police, telling them about her part in the acid attack. Back at home later, Sarah collapses and is taken to hospital where tests are conducted. Sarah talks to Ross who convinces her that she doesn't want to see her mum in jail. The doctors reveal that the tests concluded that she is suffering from heart failure, as a very rare side-effect of the chemo. Debbie tells her they are gonna get through this and that she will not die. Sarah is informed that she'll need a heart transplant but is allowed home a few days later. In July, Sarah collapses again and it turns out she has picked up a virus and is forced to stay permanently in the hospital while waiting for a transplant.
Sarah says goodbye to her mum before her transplant
In October 2018, Debbie is arrested and tells the truth about the acid attack. Debbie is charged and refused bail at her preliminary hearing. When Debbie is still held by the police, the hospital has an offer of a heart that is a suitable match for Sarah and she is told they can go ahead with the transplant. Debbie is allowed out of prison, for a short time to visit Sarah in hospital before the transplant. Faith and Charity promise to stay with her the entire time as Debbie has to go back to prison. Sarah's monitor goes off and Charity and Faith are forced out of the room as doctors rush in. They are told the new heart is not working as it should but they're treating it with medication. The doctors tell them Sarah's heart has stabilized and the next day Sarah wakes up. In December, Sarah is overjoyed when Debbie returns home after being found not guilty of GBH.
In January 2019, Sarah is confused by Debbie's behaviour when she starts acting coldly towards Cain, unaware that Cain had admitted to causing Joe's death. The following month, Debbie tells Sarah that Cain told Joe to leave and never come back, to stop her from asking about why she's being cold towards Cain. Sarah is furious when Debbie informs her that she's got an interview for a job in Aberdeen the next day and pretends to be ill in hope of scuppering Debbie's job interview. When Cain and Charity insist on taking Sarah to hospital, Sarah admits she isn't ill - she lied in an attempt to stop Debbie attending an interview for a job in Aberdeen. Sarah snaps at Debbie and tells her that she's staying with her family, and hates Debbie. However, their relationship improves when things cool down after Cain revealed Joe hadn't actually died but faked his own death and fled the country in April 2019.
In August 2019, Sarah catches wind of her mother's plans to move to Scotland after inheriting a garage there from Lisa Dingle. Sarah encourages her to go because she wants her to be happy but she hesitates when Sarah reveals she wants to stay in the village. However, Sarah tells her they could still see each other all the time on weekends and thus Debbie leaves the village on 13th August while Sarah stays behind with Charity and her fiancee Vanessa Woodfield moving into Jacobs Fold to look after Sarah.
2019-2020: Relationship with Danny and drugs[]
In September 2019, Sarah starts talking to an older boy named Danny online and takes a liking to him. She skips school to hang out with him but is caught by Vanessa who drags her home where the teens are confronted by Sarah's crazy family, scaring Danny off. Sarah was devastated and opened up to Charity about her struggles, telling her that meeting Danny was the only thing she had to look forward to as she knew would die young due to her illness but being with him made her feel like a normal teenager. Feeling bad for ruining that for her, Charity and Vanessa tracked down Danny and surprised Sarah with a visit from him, making her overjoyed.
In November 2019, Sarah started getting more rebellious and held a party at the house with Danny and Charity's son Noah. However, Noah gets worried when Sarah swallowed a pill of PMA from Danny. Charity found out about the party and threw everybody out. She worried about Sarah drinking because of her serious heart condition but stayed unaware of the drugs. Noah tried to make her see sense and convince her that Danny was bad for her and wanted to tell Charity about the drugs but Sarah convinced him not to. She agreed to hold on to a bag of pills for Danny but Noah found them in her bag and was horrified. Noah confronted Danny, telling him to stop giving Sarah drugs and alcohol as she was really sick and could get hurt. However, Sarah was furious when she saw them as she didn't want Danny to know about her condition and just treat her like a sick girl like everyone else did. Danny came to find her, saying that it didn't matter and encouraged her to continue living her life and having fun.
Sarah continued to pressure Noah not to tell on her and lied to him that she had given the pills back to Danny and was not holding them for him anymore. However, on 20th December 2019 Noah found the pills still in her bag and confronted her. They had a row and after she called him a sad little freak, telling him everybody took pills and that it wasn't a big deal, resulting in him stealing the pills and running off. Sarah panicked and tried to get him to come back as she was terrified of how Danny would react. She was even more worried when the following day, she found out Noah had taken the pills and suffered an overdose. He rushed to hospital and when questioned by Charity and Vanessa if she knew something about the drugs she lied and said Noah had been hanging out with a bad crowd. Noah luckily woke up and Sarah got him to cover for her by confirming her story and not telling Charity where the pills actually came from.
In January 2020, Danny reached out to Sarah again, showing he had been beaten up because of the lost drugs. He said he was forced to sell drugs to not get more hurt and attempted to get her to do it for him, to which she reluctantly agreed. Danny took her to the area in which he wanted her to deal, however, there she ran into one of Danny's mates, who proceeded to reveal that he got his injury from falling off a bike, not from a beating. Feeling betrayed and used, Sarah set Danny up, putting the drugs in Danny's jacket and reported him to the police. Noah supported her and continued to keep good on his promise to not tell Charity about her involvement with the drugs, however, after his life was put through some turmoil when Graham Foster was murdered he angrily blurted out the truth to Charity who confronted Sarah.
In March 2020, Sarah and Noah were both saddened by the news that Vanessa had been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Charity struggled with the news and they all tried to support Vanessa. Not long after, Vanessa decided to go stay with her mother while she had her treatment. Sarah and Noah were unhappy to be left with Charity, who was lost without Vanessa, but did their best to help her with her young son, Moses.
In October 2020, Vanessa ended her relationship with Charity after Charity kissed Mackenzie Boyd and Sarah was furious with her for throwing everything they had away. After this, Charity spiralled and began drinking constantly much to the frustration of Sarah and Noah. They tried to make her see how much she was neglecting them and Charity promised to fix it. However, she then told them that they had to move out while she recovered and sent them to Cain. Initially, Sarah refused to leave as she saw it as Charity palming them off on someone else, but Cain insisted that they come live at Butlers Farm with him and Moira.
2021-2023: Debbie's return and friendship with Chloe[]
In January 2021, Sarah was surprised to see Danny in the village as part of the new vicar’s programme to help ex-prisoners. At first, Sarah wanted nothing to do with Danny but he told her that prison had changed him and he was a better person now. Sarah believed him and they started hanging out again. However, Sarah then saw him pushing drugs during a stag party at the Woolpack and confronted him. She took the drugs off him but a police officer then arrived and asked everyone present to submit to a search. Sarah hurriedly put the drugs into the coat pocket of one of the party guests, Ethan Anderson where they were discovered by the officer. Ethan was then arrested for possession but he spotted Sarah hanging around and accused her of planting them. Sarah denied this as Ethan and his father, Charles Anderson, tried to prove her guilt, but the Dingles all rallied around to protect her.
Feeling guilty, Sarah confessed to Charity that it was true and begged her not to report it as she didn’t want to go to prison. Charity was angry with her for being stupid and so Sarah decided to run away with Danny. She met up with him the day after and hid in an abandoned barn where Danny suggested they have sex, which Sarah agreed to, but they were interrupted by her mother, Debbie, who threatened Danny into leaving. She took Sarah back to Jacob’s Fold and agreed to stay to take care of Sarah as she was clearly struggling. Sarah was happy to have her mother around and soon agreed to tell the police what happened with the drugs. She also apologised to Ethan for what happened and he tentatively forgave her. In February, Sarah was upset when Debbie decided to return to Scotland after clashing with Charity. Sarah blamed Charity for her mother leaving and was cold to her for a while.
In August 2021, Sarah decided that she wanted to meet the family of her heart donor but Charity advised her against it. Sarah didn’t listen and signed up for register that connected people with the families of their organ donors. Sarah was frustrated to find out that her donors family weren’t on it and so she looked at medical records. She found out her donors name was Gemma Harris and that she died in a car crash. Sarah then managed to connect with her sister, Chloe Harris and they arranged to meet in a park. Noah found out and insisted on coming with her, which annoyed Sarah but she agreed. When they met up, Sarah was disturbed by Chloe’s request to listen to her heart beat but agreed. They exchanged information and promised to stay in contact but Sarah was unhappy that Chloe seemed more interested in Noah.
Sarah was upset when Chloe later started ghosting her and was angry to learn that Chloe was still texting Noah. Sarah confided in Charity about this and she comforted her. However, when Charity and her boyfriend, Mackenzie, broke into Chloe’s home, Sarah was furious with them. Chloe later moved to the village with Kerry Wyatt and Sarah started to see her more, but she was still irritated by Noah dating her. She sided with Chloe after they broke up and in May 2022, Sarah was horrified to find out that Noah had started stalking Chloe following their split. She was not as willing as Charity to forgive him, but soon came around.
Later in the year, Sarah was saddened to learn that her great-grandmother, Faith, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She did her best to support Faith as she suffered with her condition. In October 2022, Faith passed away and Sarah missed her. She attended the funeral a few days later. After the funeral, Cain was arrested for killing Al Chapman and Sarah worried that she would lose her grandfather as well.
In November, Sarah helped Mackenzie with his plan to propose to Charity and she accepted. In December 2022, Chloe left the village after being kicked out by her sister, Amy Wyatt and Sarah was unhappy that she was losing one of her only friends. On 12th January 2023, Charity had Chloe move in with them as she was pregnant and homeless. Sarah was pleased to have Chloe around more and they became close.
In February, Sarah was shocked to overhear Chloe arguing with Mack about him being the father of Chloe’s baby. She stopped Mack and Chloe from telling Charity by faking a heart attack, then at the hospital, Sarah told them that she had overheard them and made them promise not to tell Charity, as she didn’t want Charity getting hurt again. Sarah was cold to both Chloe and Mack after this and was glad when Chloe moved out in March.
Mackenzie and Charity then got married in April 2023 on the same day that Chloe gave birth but Sarah still didn’t tell anyone. In May 2023, Charity discovered the truth and Sarah awkwardly told her that she had known for months after Charity threw Mack out. Charity was angry but quickly forgave her granddaughter, to Sarah’s relief. In June, Charity insisted on throwing Sarah a proper eighteenth birthday party and Sarah was grateful. She asked if she could invite Chloe and Charity pretended to be okay with it, however, this lead to Charity learning that Mack and Chloe were dating. In November 2023, Sarah was shocked that Charity and Mack got back together. She and Noah remained hostile toward Mack after everything that he had done. Chloe then moved to France when her father, Damon Harris was accidentally killed by Charity after he kidnapped Mack.
2024-2025: Working at the garage, relationship with Jacob and relationship with Kammy[]
In early 2024, Sarah tries to supports Charity as she deals with having killed Damon. Sarah does her best to step up and help around the house but Charity’s issues are too much. After Charity accidentally stabs Mack, he takes Sarah, Noah and Moses to live at Butlers Farm while Charity gets help for her mental health. Eventually, they move back in after Charity goes to therapy. Later in the year, Sarah visits Cain at the garage and helps a young man with his car. Cain is impressed and offers to train Sarah up, to which she eagerly agrees. She is frustrated with Mack’s behaviour after she starts working there and tries to prove herself. Sarah then helps Belle’s husband Tom track down a mini as a surprise for her but Belle is not happy about it.
In June, Sarah meets her cousin, Samson’s friend Josh after they bring a car to the garage. Josh flirts with her and Sarah agrees to go out for a drink with him, however she is forced to stand him up because of work. They start hanging out regularly but Sarah decides to dump him after she begins to believe that he attacked Matty Barton and caused Samson to be stabbed.
In January 2025, Sarah started dating Jacob Gallagher after a rocky start. They slept together but the next day, Jacob told her he wasn’t sure about dating her as she had a life-limiting condition and this upset Sarah. She was angry when Charity confronted Jacob about it and told her to leave it. A couple of days later, Jacob apologised and Sarah agreed to give him another chance. They continued seeing each other until he pushed her away due to his mother’s death in February 2025. Then on 6th March 2025, Sarah then found she was pregnant when she takes a pregnancy test alone. She confides in Charity about the positive result and Charity agrees to support her. Sarah goes to tell Jacob, but he breaks up with her before she can say anything.
On 10th March 2025, Charity takes Sarah to be checked out by Manpreet Sharma to see how her pregnancy is doing. Manpreet suggests that they should double-check Sarah's test result just to be sure. Sarah receives a shock, as Manpreet breaks the news to her that her positive pregnancy test was a false alarm. While Sarah tries to process the fact that she isn't pregnant after all, Charity and Manpreet are upset to see how disappointed Sarah is. With Sarah facing a shortened life expectancy due to her health issues, she admits that she's worried that this could have been her only chance to start a family.
On 18th March 2025, while out, Sarah finds the quad bike thief broken down on the road and he introduces himself as Kammy Hadiq. They flirt and she gets him to agree to taking the quad back to the garage to get it fixed. Sarah impresses Kammy by fixing the quad bike. She then confronts him over stealing the quad bike from her grandad's farm and warns him he has no idea who he's messing with. Kammy asks Sarah to keep quiet, promising to give her 15% of whatever he makes when they see Ross Barton approaching, who has noticed the quad bike in the garage. Sarah covers that she found it at the side of the road and that Kammy is a customer paying for a car part. After Ross leaves, Sarah tells Kammy that he isn't stealing from her family anymore and the next time he goes on a job she's coming with him, wanting to be cut in on 50% of what he makes rather than 15%.
The following day, Sarah carries out a job with Kammy and they ride off together enjoying each other's company on the quad bikes they have stolen. Charity interrupts Sarah and Kammy as they are acting all cozy in the sofa. She sends him packing so Kammy slips Sarah some money as he leaves and she soon texts him asking if he's up for another job tomorrow. Sarah then gets Cain to hire Kammy at the garage when Kammy tells her that he wants to open his own garage one day. Over the following days, Sarah becomes close with Kammy and is happy when he arranges for them to go out on a date. They begin a relationship but things become awkward when Jacob finds out. He goes to see Sarah at the garage and she is surprised when tells her that he wants her back, but Sarah says that nothing has changed and it is too late.
In April 2025, Sarah is annoyed by a rich customer who accuses Kammy of scratching his car. However, Cain takes the customers side and when Sarah protests, he fires both her and Kammy which infuriates Sarah. After Charity finds out, she forces Cain to rehire Sarah but Sarah wants revenge and steals Cain’s car keys. She gives them to Kammy and tells him to take the car. Sarah then meets him at the haulage yard, where she locks Rodney Blackstock in a van and steals the computer parts that he was unloading, but she is annoyed when Kammy tries to stop her. Sarah drives off with the stolen goods and is caught by PC Swirling, who arrests her. The next morning, Sarah is released on bail and is happy to see Kammy waiting for her with Cain and Charity, but throws him out when he tells her that he now knows about her condition. Later, she finds Kammy waiting outside for her and they talk about her condition, with Kammy saying he doesn’t care and Sarah is relieved.
The day after. Sarah invites Kammy over while everyone is out and they sleep together. However, Sarah is embarrassed when they are interrupted by Jacob and things become even more awkward. A few weeks later, Sarah finds out that Jacob and Kammy arranged to have a dirt bike race to settle their rivalry and orders them to call it off. She soon confides in Vanessa about her situation and says she is struggling to choose between the two. Before Sarah can come to a conclusion, however, she sees a picture that Sam Dingle posted showing that the race went ahead. She heads up to the track and confronts Kammy after he won, before going to find Jacob. They have a long talk, with Jacob telling her about how his mother’s death has affected him and Sarah finally admitting that she thought she was pregnant when they broke up. After their heart to heart, they hug and Sarah kisses Jacob but they are seen from a distance by Kammy. The day after, Sarah tells Jacob they are just mates, but she is disappointed when Kammy says they are over as he believes she wants to be with Jacob.
2025 to present: IVF journey, surrogacy and reuniting with Jacob[]
After the end of her relationships with both Kammy and Jacob, Sarah came to the realisation that all she wanted was to be a mother and given her limited life expectancy, she wanted to have a baby right away. Sarah continued to confide in Vanessa as she researched IVF but hid her plans from the rest of her family. After a positive meeting with a fertility specialist, Sarah was examined to see if she was capable of carrying a baby but she was left distraught when she was told that she had cervical cancer, though it was in the early stages and the doctor believed Sarah would be able to have a baby. She soon told Jacob about her IVF plans and her cancer diagnosis but he reacted badly as he said she was being selfish for bringing a child into the world knowing it would probably be orphaned. Sarah later called her mother, Debbie, for comfort, only to learn that she had just gotten married and emigrated to Australia, making Sarah feel as though she had been abandoned.
However, this did not deter Sarah as she still planned to have a baby and got involved with Kammy’s dodgy schemes again to pay for it. In June 2025 Charity found out about the IVF and confronted her about it, causing them to argue. Sarah eventually managed to talk Charity around and was elated when she offered to pay for the IVF. Sarah was grateful for her grandmother’s support as she went with her to her next few appointments but still kept the cancer diagnosis a secret, even during her egg harvesting procedure. Charity found out about the cancer after answering a call from the hospital and she was angry with Sarah for lying despite Sarah’s attempts to play it down but they soon reconciled.
Charity then told Cain that Sarah had cancer, which annoyed her as she didn’t want to upset him after the recent death of his son, Nate and Jacob let slip to Cain about the IVF, leaving Sarah was upset when he ordered her not to go through with it. This made Sarah doubt her plans and she talked to Jacob about it but was stunned when he offered to be the sperm donor. Sarah was initially unsure but after some encouragement from Kammy, she discussed it with Jacob and they agreed for him to be the donor. On 26th June 2025, Sarah then had to go in for the operation to remove her cervix and she argued with Charity when she again tried to talk her out of having a baby before she went in. Unfortunately Sarah’s operation did not go to plan as the doctors were unable to tie off her blood vessels and had to administer an emergency hysterectomy, which devastated Sarah as her dreams of motherhood collapsed. When Charity and Cain arrived to comfort her, Sarah launched a nasty verbal attack on Charity as she believed that if she hadn’t stressed her out before the operation it might have gone well and denounced Charity as the worst mother ever, causing her to leave in tears.
The next day, Sarah apologised to Charity when she visited and broke down in tears. After this, Sarah attempted to focus on her recovery but struggled to accept that she could not be a mother. She went back to work at the garage to distract herself and tried to help Gabby Thomas with her car, but Gabby passed out at the wheel meaning Sarah had to intervene and get them to the hospital, where she was told she had ripped her stitches. She had to stay in hospital for a couple of days and talked to Cain about losing his son came to see her, convincing him to hold a memorial. Cain later suggested surrogacy as he could see how miserable Sarah was and she soon came around to this idea. However, things were not that simple as real agencies would not take Sarah on and when Cain tried to find a different woman, he was scammed.
After Sarah’s aunt, Victoria Sugden refused to be the surrogate when Charity ambushed her about it, Sarah began to lose hope, until Charity volunteered to carry the baby. Sarah was sceptical but after talking it over, she was grateful for the offer and told Jacob. The plan faced opposition from Charity’s husband, Mack and Jacob’s grandfather, Eric Pollard, but Charity was determined to help and Sarah was elated when she passed all the tests. As she waited for everything to get started, Sarah realised she still had feelings for Jacob on a picnic date as he confessed he loved her. Sarah returned the sentiment and they got back together, but Sarah was stunned when Jacob then proposed. After he confirmed it was not a joke, Sarah accepted, so they went to tell their families and though Sarah’s were reasonably on board, Eric still opposed the idea due to her condition. Sarah later went to see Eric and convinced him that her life expectancy shouldn’t stop her and Jacob from being happy, so Eric got on board.
Residences[]
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| Wishing Well Cottage | 7th June to 21st December 2005 |
| On the run | 21st December 2005 to 3rd October 2006 |
| Butlers Farm | 3rd October 2006 to 4th February 2007 |
| The Grange (temporarily) | 4th February to 5th February 2007 |
| Smithy Cottage (temporarily) | 5th February to 14th February 2007 |
| Butlers Farm | 14th February 2007 to 22nd December 2008 |
| Wishing Well Cottage | 22nd December 2008 to 13th February 2009 |
| Butlers Farm | 13th February to 3rd June 2009 |
| Tug Ghyll | 3rd June 2009 to 12th March 2010 |
| Jersey | 12th March to 12th November 2010 |
| Tug Ghyll | 12th November 2010 to 1st November 2013 |
| Mulberry Cottage | 1st November 2013 to 1st January 2016 |
| France | 1st January 2016 to 24th January 2017 |
| Wishing Well Cottage | 24th January to 3rd February 2017 |
| Butlers Farm | 3rd February to 21st November 2017 |
| Jacobs Fold | 21st November 2017 to 4th January 2018 |
| Wishing Well Cottage (temporarily) | 4th January to 5th January 2018 |
| The Woolpack | 5th January to 27th March 2018 |
| Jacobs Fold | 27th March to 13th November 2018 |
| Butlers Farm | 13th November 2018 to 15th January 2019 |
| Wishing Well Barn (temporarily) | 15th January to 19th January 2019 |
| Jacobs Fold | 19th January 2019 to 30th November 2020 |
| Butlers Farm | 30th November 2020 to 11th January 2021 |
| Jacobs Fold | 11th January 2021 to present |
Background information[]
- Sarah was first credited on Episode 6098 (6th December 2011).
- Sarah, along with Jack Sugden were written out in January 2016 when Charley Webb (Debbie Dingle) went on maternity leave.
- Producer Iain MacLeod decided to recast the role in 2017, due to MacLeod desiring for an older actor to play more mature storylines.
Quotes[]
"Dad, it's only a holiday." (final line by Sophia Amber Moore as Sarah, to Andy Sugden)
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"Where are we?" (first line by Katie Hill as Sarah, to Debbie Dingle)
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"Do you like pushing girls and women around? Does it make you feel like a big man? What's wrong, scared of your friends finding out what you're really like?" (to Joe Tate)
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”It’s funny how little stress child birth was for you, though, isn’t it?…Two by the time you were my age and then a couple more prison births. Proper classy, that. Popping them out behind bars like there’s nothing to it. Which, you know, there isn’t, when you’re the worst mum in history.” (to Charity Dingle)
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”We all want you to get through this and be back to the happy chappy you always were.” (toCain Dingle)