Andy Sugden

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Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Andrew "Andy" Hopwood
Alias	Andy Sugden Farmer Andy Mr. Sugden
Origin	Emmerdale
Occupation	Farmer
Powers / Skills	Charisma Intelligence Deception Exceptional combatant
Hobby	Arguing with his half-brother Robert Sugden and former lover Debbie Dingle (formerly). Spending quality time with his adopted father Jack Sugden.
Goals	Overcome his trauma of accidentally killing his adopted mother Sarah Sugden in a barn fire. Get payback on his half-brother Robert Sugden for sleeping with his wife Kate Sugden and later killing her (both succeeded). Prevent anyone from discovering his violent behaviour towards Jo Stiles. Stop Debbie from getting custody of their daughter Sarah Dingle Jr (both failed).
Crimes	Accidental matricide Murder Abuse Vandalism Assault Sabotage Threats of violence
Type of Villain	Tragic Protagonist

Andy Sugden is a fictional character and recurring protagonist of the long-running British soap opera Emmerdale. He first appeared on 4th July 1996 and started out as a supporting character throughout the 1990s before becoming one of the show's central protagonists in between 2000 and 2016 up until his departure on 16th August 2016.

In his characterisation, Andy is the illegitimate son of Billy Hopwood; the adopted son of Jack Sugden; and the adoptive half-brother of his sworn frenemy Robert Sugden. While he is often depicted as the nicer sibling between him and Robert on most frequent occasions, their feud had merely grew intestifying after Andy had accidentally their mother Sarah Sugden in a fire incident from November 2000. At one point, Andy became an anti-hero in 2008 upon being involved in a storyline where he domestically abused his second spouse Jo Stiles following the breakdown of their relationship.

The character is portrayed by Kevin Fletcher.

Biography

Andy Sugden was born on 28th January 1986 in Emmerdale, concieved by habitual offender Billy Hopwood and his ex-wife Trisia at that time.

In his early childhood, Andy's upbringing grew challenging after Trisia died when he was young and Billy was in prison for getting involved in petty crimes. In 1996, Andy was adopted by local farmer Jack Sugden and his wife Sarah. Overcime he warmed up to his new life with them and eventually Andy was adopted by the couple as their son. From then onwards Andy remained close with his newfound parents and developed a close friendship with their son Robert Sugden, as well as supporting Sarah when she gave birth to his adopted youngest sister Victoria Sugden.

In 1998, Andy was surprised when Billy resurfaces and attempts to enlist him in his petty crimes once more. Andy refused to help but he collaborated in keeping Billy in hiding from the police after the latter had killed local shopkeeper Vic Windsor on Christmas Day 1998. Billy was eventually caught and arrested by the police, while Vic's widow Viv would go on to resent Andy's adopted family for their unwitting role in her husband's death.

In 2000, Andy and the family were gobsmacked to find out that Sarah had cheated on Jack with their young lodger Richie Carter. Soon the family had money trouble and Andy decided to set fire to the barn in order to claim insurance money for Jack. But the attempt ended in disaster when Sarah was killed in the barn fire, leaving Andy guilt-ridden that he had accidentally killed his adopted mother in the fire. Andy later confessed the truth to Jack and Robert about what happened; Jack was more understanding of Andy's actions and helped him cover up the crime, whereas Robert grew to hate Andy for causing their mother's death and the pair ended up becoming sworn enemies in a longstanding feud between them.

The rivalry between Andy and Robert continued when they each developed a crush on schoolgirl Kate Addyman. In the end she chose Andy over Robert and they planned to get their own house, even if it meant paying rent to landlord Chris Tate in the process. In 2003, Andy found out that Billy had another son called Dan Eden; they met and as time went on Andy took Daz under his wing with farming. A year later, Andy proposed to Kate and they got married. But months later Andy found out that Katie had an affair with Robert behind his back. Andy broke up with Katie and swore payback on Robert, going as far as planning to shoot them with a gun. But he ceased his vendetta after accidentally shooting Jack in the end.

In 2005, Andy coped with Robert's plan to marry Kate. But then he discovered that Robert had a tryst with local businesswoman Sadie King and thereupon exposed the truth to Katie, who in turn dumped Robert before leaving the village. Andy and Robert reluctantly made amends when Jack began opposing Sadie's estranged husband Jimmy King and his father, Tom King, over their development plans in the village. Soon enough, Jack and Andy found out that Robert is in cahoots with Jimmy and his brother Matthew in their plans against them; Jack disowned Robert and told him that Andy will always be the better man over him.

By then, Andy had been romantically involved with young neighbour Debbie Dingle. They had sex and he got her pregnant with their daughter, Sarah. When their romance was exposed, Andy was confrotned by Debbie's father Cain Dingle and grandfather Zak Dingle over what happened until the rest of the family had seperated both parties. Andy later found out that Robert had planned to trick Debbie into taking Sarah away from him and leaving the village together. Andy managed to stop them with the help from Tom's youngest son Max, whom he became friends with over a partnership at the farm. It was then Andy and Robert drove their cars at each other, but Max caused them to swerve in order to stop the pair killing each other; Robert and Andy managed to escape the wreckage, but Max was killed in the explosion. When the truth about Max's death was unearthed, Jack helped his sons cover up their involvement by getting Robert to leave the village; Tom then blamed Andy for what happened until Jack convinced him otherwise.

Trivia

• He made a total of 2133 appearences throughout his time on the show.