Emmerdale legend Joe Sugden may have been killed off-screen back in 1994, but now some fans are sure he could return in an epic way for the soap’s 50th anniversary.
Joe, played by Frazer Hines, first popped up in the ITV Dales in its first ever episode in 1972.
As the younger brother of Jack Sugden and the son of Jacob and Annie, Joe faced plenty of tragedy during his time in the village – including doomed romances, the death of his father and seeing his wife Kate locked behind bars.
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Eventually, Frazer left the soap in August 1994, with news reaching the village in 1995 that he had died in a car crash.
Regardless, the star maintained in 2019 that he wants to return to Emmerdale despite his character’s death – and a hint from Amos Brearly that his supposed death wasn’t an accident.
(Image: TV Times/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Could it all have been a fake-out? And could Joe soon come back to the Dales?
Some fans certainly think so, as they now think they have uncovered a major spoiler which could see the iconic character return to the village in time for the storm to hit.
Taking to Reddit, one user predicted of the upcoming 50th birthday week: “I’m gonna put a wildcard out there: Joe Sugden back from the dead.
“Frazer Hines is the only person they interviewed who isn’t part of the current cast (they didn’t get the actor who played Dolly for example).
(Image: ITV)
“Plus Victoria is in the cast list for the 50th week and she’s not mentioned in any spoilers,” they added.
Still a huge fan of the soap, Frazer said ahead of the anniversary that he particularly enjoyed Meena Jutla’s serial killer storyline.
He said: “Oh yes I still watch it now. I loved the Meena story. Paige (Sandhu), she was, gosh she was wonderful!” – before expressing his admiration for Jeff Hordley’s character Cain Dingle.
Speaking of a potential return to the soap, he told The Mirror in 2019: “The fans always want me back. They say, ‘Why don’t you come back for six months as a guest?’ And I would do that.
(Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“I left Emmerdale because I got sick of going to work when it was dark and coming home when it was dark. I’d just got married and owned a stud farm. And so I said I would leave.”
He added: “18 months [after Joe’s exit], I met the producer and he said, ‘We are thinking of bringing you back in six months’ time’. And I said, ‘Well, I’m doing this, that, and the other’.
“And he went, ‘Well, if you don’t come back, we’ll kill you off’. So I said, ‘Don’t kill him off. Leave him in Spain’. And they killed him off in a car crash.”
But the actor even has a key way for his character to return, teasing: “Fans say, ‘Because it was the Spanish police investigating, it might not have been your body’.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
