Sarah Charity Sugden (née Dingle) is the daughter of Andy Sugden and Debbie Dingle and is the 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 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 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 re-started their relationship and tried to be a family but Andy didn't really want to be with 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 he couldn't.
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 should have custody of their daughter as long as she was not part of Sarah's life. Andy and his wife Katie split up in January 2007 after Andy's affair with Jo Stiles was revealed, the same month Andy's biological father Billy Hopwood was shocked to discover that he was a grandfather, although Andy barred him from seeing Sarah. 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 against 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 Jo to adopt her, but she 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 which caused Jo to end 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 Butler's 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. The Dingles were forced to give Andy custody of Sarah as Debbie was in prison for her part in Shane's murder. 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 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. Later that year, Sarah met her granny Charity and Uncle Noah for the first time after they returned to the village after five years away. Charity and Noah moved into Tug Ghyll. Debbie grew fed up of Charity and Cain's rows, so in March 2010, she decided 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 particularity 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 doctors appointment and after months of tests it was revealed that Sarah was suffering from a rare genetic disease Fanconi anemia 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 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 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, Debbie discovered she was pregnant. Alicia told Sarah about the pregnancy, which upset Debbie as they didn't know whether or not the baby was a match for Sarah yet. The test revealed that the baby was a match. 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 leukemia so Debbie demanded to be induced but the doctors told Debbie that it was not safe enough for Sarah or her unborn baby.
Debbie at Sarah's bedside
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. 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.
Cameron stops Debbie from running away with Sarah and Jack
Debbie planned to run away to Palma, as she was scared of losing Sarah and Jack forever but Cameron stopped Debbie and took them home. Andy kept the Sarah and Jack's passports but allowed them to move back in the Debbie. Debbie and Cameron re-started 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 harms way. In October, Cameron escaped whilst being transferred between prisons and took the pub hostage with Debbie and Jack inside. Debbie only just managed to escaped 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. 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 affect Sarah and Jack so Debbie vowed to put her children first. Debbie took Sarah to the doctors 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 Years 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, 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-: Return and cancer
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 crowd funding 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.