| Jo Stiles | |||||||||||||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Roxanne Pallett | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2005–2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 26 August 2005 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 22 December 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Kathleen Beedles | ||||||||||||||||
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Jo Stiles (also Sugden) is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale , played by Roxanne Pallett. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 August 2005 and her last appearance on 22 December 2008.
Details of the character and Pallett's casting was announced on 22 July 2005. [1] Of joining the soap, Pallett said "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining Emmerdale. Jo is a bit of a minx and a great character for me to get my teeth into!" [1] Series producer Kath Beedles stated that she was delighted to welcome Pallett to the cast and said her character would "turn up the heat in the village". [1] Kris Green of Digital Spy said Jo would become the new veterinary receptionist and set her sights on Danny Daggert (Cleveland Campbell). [1] Pallett made her debut screen appearance as Jo in August. [1]
Jo arrives in the village as new receptionist at the vets' surgery and is soon noticed by the local men, especially Max King (Charlie Kemp) and Danny Daggert (Cleveland Campbell). Jo and Danny go on a date but they agree he is far too tame for a bad girl like her. Jo settles into her job and needing somewhere to live, moves into Connelton View with Dawn Woods (Julia Mallam) and her son, TJ (Connor Lee). After seeing chemistry between Dawn and Danny, Jo sets the pair up. However, Jo's carefree, single life inspires Dawn to quickly end things with Danny.
Jo also attempts to help her recently separated boss, Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) find someone by inventing a chatroom girlfriend for him called Fireblade. Paddy books a ticket to Portugal to track down Fireblade. When Paddy returns with Toni (Kerry Stacey), Danny's cousin, Jo knows she is not Fireblade and becomes desperate to stop Toni taking Paddy for a ride. Paddy and Toni soon reveal that they were winding her up as payback.
When Dawn's ex-boyfriend, Scott Windsor (Ben Freeman) tries to seduce Jo, she rejects him but Dawn suspects there is som thing going on. Jo is later evicted by Dawn's mother, Jean Hope (Susan Penhaligon) due to rent arrears. Dawn then arranges for Jo to move into Butler's farm with Andy (Kelvin Fletcher) and Katie Sugden (Sammy Winward) who have recently reconciled. The arrangement is mutually beneficial to begin with as the Sugdens are struggling, but Andy and Jo begin an affair and Katie leaves when she finds out. Jo continues working at the vets but Paddy's partner Hari Prasad (John Nayagam) fires her when she uncovers his suspicious activity with customer invoices, while doing the accounts. Following Andy and Katie's separation, Andy proposes to Jo and she accepts. However, plans for their dream wedding are disrupted when Andy confesses to the fire that he started, which killed his adoptive mother Sarah (Alyson Spiro) seven years earlier and is sentenced to three years in prison. Jo and Andy are later married by a prison chaplin.
During Andy's incarceration, Jo is harassed by Andy's former cellmate Charlie Sellers (Michael Keogh), who threatens her and Andy's daughter Sarah (Sophia Amber-Moore). Jo calls Sarah's mother, Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) and her aunt Chas (Lucy Pargeter), who scares Charlie off with the help of the MacFarlanes, a criminal family. Soon after, Andy is paroled on appeal and calls social services about Jo adopting Sarah but is met with the news that Debbie has not completed the paperwork, much to his anger. Debbie later asks Jo for access and she lets her see Sarah. When Andy finds Sarah missing and works out that Jo is lying, he goes to retrieve her from Debbie but Jo tries to stop him and he accidentally slaps her in the process, giving her a black eye. Horrified, Andy promises never to hit her again but several more incidents occur sending Jo to the hospital. Sam Dingle (James Hooton) works out what is going on and tells his family but they don't believe him until they see a disturbing picture drawn by Sarah. After Jo confesses to Debbie, Debbie warns her if Sarah is hurt in any way, she will remove her from the farm.
To avoid further beatings, Jo lies that she is pregnant but Andy soon learns the truth and another fight ensues but Jo retaliates and shoves Andy onto an old farm tool, impaling him. Jo leaves Andy there but returns and finds Andy's brother Daz Eden (Luke Tittensor) calling an ambulance which takes Andy to hospital. When Jo tries to tell her side of the story, Andy spins the situation to make him look like the victim, and everyone believes him until Val Pollard (Charlie Hardwick) forces her sister, Diane Sugden (Elizabeth Estensen), Andy's stepmother to see the truth. Andy and Jo separate, with him moving into Woolpack. When Andy gets verbally abusive with Katie for rejecting his advances, Katie realises that Jo is telling the truth and tells her she will only be free of Andy if she leaves. Jo struggles to run the farm and look after Sarah but is helped by Debbie, neighbours Mick (John Haygarth) and Lee Naylor (Lewis Linford). Andy begins to help repair appliances until Lee discovers he has been breaking them in order to win back Jo's trust.
Realising she has to get away, Jo enlists the help of Lee to sell the farm equipment to fund the escape. Mick catches Jo leaving and she panics, locking him in the barn to prevent him from telling Andy. He begs her not to take Sarah so Jo leaves her with Debbie before departing, texting Lee telling him of Mick's whereabouts and Andy telling him to come to the farm to see what she has done as Jo is never seen nor heard from again. Jo later submits a written statement about Andy's abusive behavior when Andy and Debbie battle for custody of Sarah which prompts Andy to withdraw his application. Jo's divorce from Andy is finalised in 2009 off-screen.
James Leyfield from The Irish Mirror called Jo a "raven-haired stunner". [2]
John Jacob "Jack" Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. The character was originally played by Andrew Burt from 1972 to 1973 with a brief return in 1976, when the actor left for Italy to write a book. On his return in 1980 he was played by Clive Hornby. Hornby remained in the role until 2008 when he was forced to take a break from Emmerdale due to illness. His last on-screen appearance was on 21 February 2008, and his absence was explained by the character visiting his mother, Annie Sugden in Spain. Although Hornby was intended to return, he died from his illness in July 2008 without returning to the programme. Jack was written out following Hornby's death, dying off-screen of a heart attack in February 2009.
Andy Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Emmerdale, played by Kelvin Fletcher. He made his first on-screen appearance on 4 July 1996. Andy is the son of Billy Hopwood and Trisha Hopwood and the adoptive son of Jack Sugden and Sarah Sugden.
Robert Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. The character originally appeared on the show regularly between 22 April 1986 and 3 October 2005. During that time he was first played as a baby by Richard Smith between 1986 and 1989 before the role was taken over by Christopher Smith from 1989 until 2001. In 2001, Karl Davies took over the role in order for the character to become involved in more adult storylines, as he grew older. Davies briefly reprised his role as Robert for one episode, airing on 10 February 2009, when he returned for the funeral of his father and Emmerdale's longest running character, Jack Sugden. The character returned on 23 October 2014, with actor Ryan Hawley taking over the role.
Sam Dingle is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by James Hooton. He made his first appearance in the episode broadcast on 14 February 1995.
Katie Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Sammy Winward. She made her first screen appearance on 18 July 2001 and Winward's casting was announced a week prior. The character was introduced as a love interest for Andy Sugden and their relationship was a focus point for most of the character's tenure. Winward took maternity leave in 2005, returning the following year. Katie's later stories include relationships with Adam Barton and Declan Macey, the latter whom she marries. Writers placed Katie in danger in 2012 when she is involved in a mineshaft accident. Winward announced her decision to leave the series in November 2014 and Katie was killed-off, making her final appearance on 9 February 2015.
Debbie Dingle is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Charley Webb. Webb has taken maternity leave three times, with the first time being in 2010, and the second in 2016, with Debbie departing on 1 January 2016. She returned on 24 January 2017, and then went on maternity leave for a third time in 2019, with Debbie leaving for Scotland on 13 August 2019. She returned for a short stint on 25 December 2020, and made her final appearance on 11 February 2021.
Chastity Dingle is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, played by Lucy Pargeter. More commonly known as Chas, she made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 16 October 2002. Chas returned on 21 September 2003. Chas was absent for six months in 2005 when Pargeter took maternity leave. She left temporarily on 5 June 2005, and returned full-time from 13 December 2005. In 2013, Pargeter announced that she would be taking a short break from the show in order to appear in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. Pargeter was briefly recast for one episode on 20 December 2016 to provide an alternative physical appearance to the character through the eyes of Ashley Thomas. Chas departed temporarily once again on 31 March 2017 when Pargeter took a second maternity leave. Pargeter confirmed her return to filming on 31 August 2017. Chas returned on 25 October 2017. In January 2024, it was announced that Chas would be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in an upcoming storyline.
Danny Daggert is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Cleveland Campbell. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 25 June 2001.
Tonicha "Toni" Daggert is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She is portrayed by actress Kerry Stacey.
Victoria Sugden is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, played since 12 October 2006 by Isabel Hodgins. As a young child, Victoria was played by Jessica Heywood until 1997, followed by Hannah Midgley from 1997 to 2006. Victoria is currently the longest serving female character on the soap. Her storylines have included surviving an explosion which she caused, being put in psychiatric care, being bullied at school, romancing Daz Eden, marrying Adam Barton, accidentally running over Ashley Thomas, coping when Adam goes on the run, falling in love with Adam's brother Matty and being the victim of rape during her night out in April 2019, leading to her pregnancy as a result and giving birth to a son named Harry.
Darren "Daz" Eden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Luke Tittensor. He made his first appearance in the show on 9 October 2003. Six years into his tenure on the soap, it was announced that Tittensor had been released from Emmerdale due to a conviction of grievous bodily harm. Following a meeting with the show's bosses, the decision was taken to terminate Tittensor's contract due to the serious nature of the charge and to allow him to focus on the court case.
Sarah Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Katie Hill since January 2017. She is the daughter of Andy Sugden and Debbie Dingle and has appeared since June 2005. Her storylines in the series have included her diagnosis of Fanconi anaemia, her subsequent health struggles following her diagnosis and being involved with drug dealer Danny Harrington.
The Sugdens are a fictional family in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. Introduced during the show's conception in 1972, they were the main family for storylines between the 1970s and 1980s and remained as such for many years. The families original unit consisted of widowed farmer Annie Sugden, alongside her children Peggy Skilbeck, Jack Sugden and Joe Sugden. Subsequently these characters went on to produce more generations of Sugdens.