Donald De Souza | |||||||||||
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Emmerdale character | |||||||||||
Portrayed by | Michael Jayston | ||||||||||
Duration | 2007–2008 | ||||||||||
First appearance | 28 October 2007 | ||||||||||
Last appearance | 20 November 2008 | ||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
Created by | Kathleen Beedles | ||||||||||
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Donald De Souza is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale , played by Michael Jayston. Appearing between 2007 and 2008, Donald arrives as the husband of Nicola Blackstock (Nicola Wheeler), although their marriage quickly falls apart. During his year in the programme, Donald falls out with both his children, Anna (Emma Davies) and Miles (Ayden Callaghan), before he dies of a heart attack.
Donald makes his first appearance in Emmerdale village when he is on life support in hospital after a brain haemorrhage. His second wife, Nicola Blackstock (Nicola Wheeler), returns to Emmerdale, claiming to be a widow. Jasmine Thomas (Jenna-Louise Coleman), an aspiring local journalist, is annoyed that Nicola is flirting with her boyfriend, David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden), and discovers that Donald is in a coma in hospital. In late December, Donald regains consciousness and is aware that Nicola only married him for his money.
When Donald's alcoholic son Miles (Ayden Callaghan) - who Jasmine had tracked down - discovers Nicola's affair with David, he tells Donald, who demands a divorce. However, Nicola agrees to end the affair and he comes home from hospital, moving into Holdgate Farm. He hires an actress, Cindy Burton (Tiffany Chapman), as his "nurse", annoying Nicola, who tries to murder Donald repeatedly, hoping people will blame Cindy. David ends his relationship with Nicola when Donald offers him a position in the business, and tells him about Nicola's attempts to kill him. However, he takes her for a picnic on the moors and confronts her, giving her the opportunity to push him off a cliff. He even taunts her by pushing his wheelchair near the cliff edge and almost falls. Nicola can't do it, however, so they return to the village and he throws her out but refuses to tell the police about her behaviour. The subsequent divorce battle sees Nicola try to get as big a settlement as she can. His final offer is £20,000, which she accepts days before his death.
A successful businessman, Donald's company, "De Souza Enterprises", takes over the refuse collection contract from the Kings and persuades Carl to join him. Miles De Souza, after numerous arguments with his father and ending his relationship with Jasmine, leaves the village in August 2008.
In July, Donald's daughter Anna (Emma Davies) arrives in the village, having lived in Dubai for years after arguing over a man Anna was in love with. However, they reconcile and she gets a position in the company - coming into conflict with Carl King. Carl later betrays the De Souzas when he gives a contract to his brothers. Donald then buys Carl out and determined to get revenge, Donald and Anna agree on a plan - she will ingrain herself with the Kings so she can get the details on important contracts and steal it. However, she finds herself falling in love with Matthew King (Matt Healy), and cannot betray him as planned. Donald is furious about this and attempts to break them up. When Matthew and Anna get engaged, they have a dinner party to celebrate. Hoping to make amends, Anna invites Donald - but he is disruptive, saying Anna only wants Matthew for his money. After he leaves, Matthew visits Donald at Holdgate Farm and during a heated argument, Donald has a heart attack. Matthew withholds Donald's pills until he agrees to come to the wedding and put Anna back in his will, but Donald dies due to Matthew not giving him the medication. Matthew leaves and does not tell anyone what happened. A coroner later rules Donald died from natural causes and he is buried in the village.
On 13 September 2008, the Daily Mirror reported that Michael Jayston and Matthew Bose - who plays Paul Lambert - had both quit the soap. The article said that morale was said to be at "an all-time low" and the cast and crew "have slammed the show's tacky storylines and lack of direction since the arrival of producer Anita Turner." An ITV spokesman confirmed the two were leaving but denied it was because of low morale. [1]
Writing on his "Soapland" blog for the Daily Mirror, Tony Stewart wrote on 15 November 2008 that for an actor of Jayston's "calibre", the storyline of the Kings versus the De Souza was "dull" and rarely did "justice to his talents". However, he says that there "are flashes of passion as Donald makes his exit in a body bag". [2]
Matthew King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played Matt Healy. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 4 March 2004. Matthew arrived as part of the King family, a family of successful businessmen. During his time on the show, Matthew had relationships with several women and was engaged to Anna De Souza when he died. Matthew's last appearance was on 16 December 2008.
Jasmine Thomas is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. She made her first screen appearance in the episode broadcast on 30 June 2005 and her last appearance on 26 March 2009.
Laurel Thomas is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Charlotte Bellamy. She debuted on screen during the episode airing on 3 September 2002. Laurel has been off-screen at various times while Bellamy has taken maternity leave. Laurel is shown to have a thoughtful and caring attitude towards other characters, however, this changed dramatically in 2015 when she developed an addiction to alcohol which often caused her to become violent and aggressive.
Rodney Blackstock is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Patrick Mower. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 24 October 2000. He was introduced as the estranged father of Bernice Blackstock, with his backstory involving him leaving her at five years old. Rodney has been described as an "ageing lothario" who enjoys wine, money and the company of women. In 2012, he was ranked within What's on TV's top 100 British soap characters of all time.
Paul Lambert is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Mathew Bose. Paul appeared between 2004 and 2009. He arrives as the son of existing characters Val Lambert and Rodney Blackstock and in 2008 Paul, who is openly gay, enters into a civil partnership with Jonny Foster, the first of any primetime soap opera. The character departed in 2009, but made a brief returns in 2010, March 2015 and September 2015.
Carl Thomas King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Tom Lister. The character and casting were announced in January 2004 when it was announced that producers were bringing "four new single 'hunks'" into the show, one of them being Carl. Lister made his first appearance on the show on 6 February 2004. Throughout the course of his story arc, Carl establishes a relationship with Chas Dingle – which contributes to his storylines that include the pair having an ill-fated wedding after Chas exposes Carl's affair with her best friend Eve Jenson. During his time on the show, Carl has accidentally caused the death of local postman Paul Marsden ; killed his own father Tom in the events surrounding the Who Killed Tom King? storyline, which he ultimately confessed to his brothers Jimmy and Matthew on the show's 500th village anniversary episode – after the trio were acquitted for their father's murder; formed a romance with DCI Grace Barraclough, the policewoman investigating his father's murder, that culminated with her being killed in a hit and run – just as she prepared to take Carl into custody after he admitted to killing his father; sparked a business conflict with Matthew that concluded with the latter's death, after Carl ruined Matthew's ill-fated wedding to his business partner Anna De Souza by exposing his involvement behind the death of her father Donald ; developed a feud with Chas' niece Debbie upon clashing with her parents, Cain and Charity, respectively; embarked on a failed marriage with Lexi Nicholls ; and became archenemies with Debbie's ex-boyfriend Cameron Murray after discovering his affair with Chas and subsequently blackmailing the pair in repaying him the £30,000 that Chas previously swindled from his bank account.
Bernice Blackstock is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Samantha Giles. She made her first on screen appearance on 25 November 1998. In September 2012, it was announced Giles had reprised her role and Bernice returned on 20 November 2012 after over eight years away from the programme. In September 2019, Giles announced her departure from the series, with her final scenes airing in November 2019. In April 2021, it was announced that Giles would be returning to the soap, with her return scenes airing on 27 May 2021. However, it was announced on 17 July 2023 that Giles would be leaving the show once again later in the year with her final scenes airing on 14 November 2023.
Nicola King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She has been played by Nicola Wheeler since she joined the soap in 2001. Wheeler left the role in January 2006, with her on-screen departure airing in March. In July 2007, it was announced that Wheeler chose to return to the soap eighteen months later and Nicola made her return on 12 September 2007. Wheeler took maternity leave throughout 2015, and Nicola departed temporarily on 26 March 2015, to work in Dubai for six months. She made a brief appearance on 7 May 2015, via webcam, and then made her full-time return on 11 November 2015, when returned from Dubai due to an incident that happened there..
David Metcalfe is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Matthew Wolfenden. It was reported in August 2023 that he was set to leave the soap after 17 years, due to a lack of "gritty" storylines. David's final scenes were broadcast on 30 November 2023.
Scarlett Mary Nicholls is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She is played by Kelsey-Beth Crossley and made her first appearance on 2 March 2007. It was announced on 8 May 2011 that Crossley was leaving the show. She made her final appearance on 28 July 2011. On 21 October 2012, it was announced Crossley would make a brief return to Emmerdale.
Lexi Nicholls is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale played by Sally Oliver. She appeared from 2007 to 2009.
Emma-Kate Davies is an English actress. She is the daughter of actor Geoffrey Davies, of the television comedy series Doctor in the House. She is notably recognised for her role of Anna De Souza in the ITV soap Emmerdale and for her portrayal of Diana Mitford-Guinness in the Channel 4 mini series Mosley. She currently resides in South-West London with her husband Ross Allen, a garden designer, and their daughter Camille.
Miles De Souza is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. Portrayed by Ayden Callaghan, he made his first screen appearance on 1 November 2007, departing on 31 July 2008. He was introduced as a member of the newly introduced De Souza family: the son of Donald De Souza, the stepson of Nicola Blackstock and the brother of Anna De Souza. During his tenure, the character's storylines included his personal issues with depression and alcoholism. Furthermore, it was established that Miles and his father did not have a close relationship, despite his father's millionaire status.
Anna Catherine De Souza is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Emma Davies. She made her first appearance on 8 July 2008 and left on 6 January 2009.
Ivan Jones is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Daniel Brocklebank. He appeared in the series from 5 May 2005 until 2 August 2006. Ivan was originally introduced to participate in a storyline about the character of Jarvis Skelton and only meant to feature in three episodes. The serial's producers were impressed with Brocklebank and made Ivan a regular character. The character is a Geordie, which required the actor to adopt the accent. Ivan is characterised as a "good-humoured" and "charming" dustman, while Brocklebank described him as having "quite a few" love interests and stated that he has "slept his way around the village".
Jimmy King is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Nick Miles. He made his first appearance on 19 February 2004 and has appeared on the show ever since. Introduced alongside brothers Matthew, Max and Carl, as well as his father Tom, Jimmy has evolved from a hard, cold businessman to a devoted husband and a comical character. This personality transformation followed the deaths of all his brothers in 2005, 2008 and 2012 respectively, his murder of his father in 2006 and a marriage to Nicola Blackstock since 2010.