Annie Brearly

Infobox Emmerdale character 2


name=Annie Brearly
portrayer=Sheila Mercier
years=1972-1994, 1995, 1996
born=1920
first= 16 October 1972
last=7 November 1996| death=
creator = Kevin Laffan
occupation=Retired
home= Spain
family=The Sugden Family
father = Sam Pearson
mother = Mary Pearson
sons= Jack Sugden
Joe Sugden
daughters = Peggy Skilbeck
grandsons = Jackie Merrick
Sam Skilbeck
Robert Sugden
granddaughters = Sally Skilbeck
Victoria Sugden
spouse = Jacob Sugden (1945-1972)
Leonard Kempinski (1993)
Amos Brearly (1995-)
2nd cousin = Beryl Crossthwaite
2nd cousin once = Sharon Crossthwaite


caption2= Annie Sugden as she appeared in 1972.

Annie Brearly (née Pearson; previously Kempinski and Sugden) was a fictional character in the popular soap opera "Emmerdale". She was played by Sheila Mercier as a regular character between 1972 and 1994, making guest appearances in 1995 and 1996. Annie was one of "Emmerdale Farm's" original characters, appearing in its first episode on 16 October 1972. She was the soap's "first matriarch", the maternal force behind the Sugden family, who were collectively one of "Emmerdale Farm's" main focal points. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4354023.stm| title= Emmerdale's path to soap success| publisher = BBC News | date = 2005-03-17| accessdate=2007-10-02]

Sheila Mercier as Annie Sugden and Frazer Hines as Joe Sugden were the only two original cast members to take the show into its 20th year. [cite web | url = http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/drama/emmerdale.htm| title= Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale| publisher = .nostalgiacentral.com | accessdate=2007-10-02] Though the character left the serial in 1994, she has made occasional appearances since this time and last appeared on-screen in 1996. Sheila Mercier reprised the role in 2000 for a special web broadcast in which Annie talked to her troubled screen son Jack Sugden, played by Clive Hornby. The broadcast was available for viewers to download on the official "Emmerdale" website.cite web | url = http://www.mirror.co.uk/archive/2005/03/18/emmerdale-week-those-were-the-dales-89520-15306953/| title= EMMERDALE WEEK: THOSE WERE THE DALES..| publisher = The Mirror | accessdate=2003-03-20]

Character creation and development

Annie Sugden was created by Kevin Laffan, the mastermind behind "Emmerdale Farm" who also wrote the serial's first 262 episodes. Laffan was said to be "keen on dominant women" and it has been said that he created a "memorable heroine" in Annie Sugden, "the wife of the ne'er-do-well…who drank himself to an early grave" (the first episode opened with his funeral).cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,917673,00.html| title= Kevin Laffan| publisher = The Guardian | accessdate=2003-03-20] The show originally focused upon the struggles of Annie and her family, with the first episode of "Emmerdale Farm" (1972) being billed as "the living story of the Sugden family - the excitement of country life around."

Actress Sheila Mercier—whose career had been mainly theatrical—was chosen to play the role and went on to be the serial's longest running original actor. Mercier has commented "I had done a lot of television from the stage of the Whitehall, but very little else before joining Emmerdale Farm…I remember, at first, playing to the Gods! Tristan de Vere Cole, one of the first directors on the programme, told me to take [my performance] down until it was so low I was almost muttering. Then, Gordon Flemyng - another of the directors - played back to me a scene I did so that I could see what I had done wrong." [cite web | url = http://www.emmerdale.org/emmerdale/profiles/annie.htm| title= Annie Sugden| publisher = www.emmerdale.org | accessdate=2003-03-20]

The character has been described as a firm favourite with viewers, from the opening scene of "Emmerdale Farm" with Annie standing in the farmhouse kitchen, to the day she left.cite web | url = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-26249302_ITM| title= Where are they now? - Sheila Mercier.| publisher = The Daily Record|date= 2002-10-12|accessdate=2008-04-09] As peacekeeper between her warring sons Joe and Jack, Annie was quickly placed at the centre of the soap's action. The character was involved in numerous storylines, including marriages, bereavements, tragedies and family problems. Commenting on her "most gripping" storylines, Mercier has said, " [Annie's daughter] Peggy Skilbeck's death, [Peggy's] twins' deaths and [Annie's father Sam Pearson's] death, which all called for lots of tears."

In the 1985 "Emmerdale Farm Celebration Edition 1000 Episodes Magazine", Annie's personaility is described:

Commenting on her character in 1985, Mercier said: "Annie Sugden has changed a great deal over the years. At the beginning she was very terse. She was the head of the family and let everyone know it. She ruled with a rod of iron. She'd had a tough life. She'd had a rough ride with [her husband] Jacob, who used to drink the money away and sit in the Woolpack until all hours. [Her son] Jack didn't live at home then and it was Annie who kept the farm together. Until Henry Wilks came along they were poor farmers, living hand-to-mouth. But now things are different. Jack has made a success of Emmerdale and Henry's interest in the farm and Annie herself has made her relax. She's mellower now."

From the late 1980s, Sheila Mercier cut back on her appearances, working only in the studio. Annie Sugden reportedly poured more than 6,000 cups of tea in the farmhouse studio, where she was most often seen.cite web | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-61055363.html| title= As Emmerdale Farm celebrates 25 years, we find out what happened to the 9 original cast members|publisher = The Daily Mirror|date= 1997-10-16|accessdate=2008-04-09] After she retired in 1994, she has appeared in only a handful of "Emmerdale" episodes, making guest appearances in 1995 and 1996. However, in 2000 she came out of retirement briefly to take part in an special internet mini-drama, which ran side-by-side with the "Emmerdale" television broadcast. Mercier talked live on the Net with her troubled screen son, Jack, played by Clive Hornby. [cite web | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-63251628.html| title= EMMERDALE ON THE WEB|publisher = The Daily Mirror|date= 2000-07-10|accessdate=2008-04-09] The broadcast was available for viewers to download on the official "Emmerdale" website. Mercier was also invited to return to the "Emmerdale" set to celebrate with the crew at the official 30th anniversary party. In an interview in 2002, Mercier said she had no desire to return to acting, "I don't want to act. I watch TV, read and live like an ordinary person." However, for the show's 5000th episode special, transmitted across the ITV network in May 2008, Mecier (aged 89) made another appearance as Annie along with other past characters, Matt and Dolly Skilbeck and son Joe Sugden, played by Frazer Hines.

torylines

The audience was introduced to farmer's wife Annie Sugden in the soap's first episode. It was a time of sadness for the Sugden family, as Annie was burying her recently deceased husband, Jacob—who had died after spending much of his later years in the soap's pub, The Woolpack, drinking away the family's farming profits. Early central storylines in the serial followed Annie as she struggled to come to terms with the death of her husband, support her family, and run Emmerdale Farm — set on the Yorkshire dales in the fictional village of Beckindale. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/817243.stm| title= Emmerdale goes nightly| publisher = BBC News | date = 2000-07-30| accessdate=2007-10-02]

Matriarchal Annie aimed to rebuild the Sugden's ailing farm by reuniting her two feuding sons, Jack and Joe. She accepted investment from a village outsider, Henry Wilks, who had made his fortune in the wool industry and brought his business acumen to Beckindale. Early in the series, landlord Amos Brearly decided a woman’s touch was needed in his pub and proposed to recently widowed Annie. She turned him down. In early 1993, when it was found that Emmerdale Farm was collapsing due to subsidence, Annie didn't want to know anything about it. Although the family moved into Hawthorn Cottage, she would remain unhappy until it was renamed Emmerdale Farm. In December the same year, Annie and her new husband, Leonard Kempinski, whom she had married in October, planned to move to Spain. On the night that they were supposed to fly out, Annie's son, Joe, was driving them to the airport, when a crashing plane's wing collided with the car. Joe survived with a broken leg; however, Annie was left in a coma for several months. She awoke several months later to discover that Leonard had died. Annie was left to mourn another husband.

Later, Amos Brearly proposed to Annie again, 23 years after his first proposal. This time, she accepted; they married in 1995, and moved to Spain for their retirment. Annie and Amos came back in 1996 to mourn the death of Annie's youngest son, Joe, who had died in a car accident in Spain whilst visiting Annie with Sarah and the kids. In 2006, Annie had her granddaughter, Victoria Sugden, stay with her and Amos in Spain. In late February 2008, it was revealed that Jack had left for Spain as Annie had fallen ill.

In other media

The character Annie Sugden has been the topic of several tie-in books related to the "Emmerdale" serial. These include "Annie Sugden's Country Diary", written by Lee Mackenzie and published in 1978. The novel gives Annie's account of her childhood and early adult life in Beckindale. It is described as a "story of the long, hot summers between the wars, the village school and the open fields [..] Annie's heart-warming memories of the good times and the hard times amongst honest working folk in the Yorkshire dales [...] the Diary of a country lass who loves life, despite its trials and tribulations". The novel gives an account of Annie's parents, her "sensitive musical" mother, her "down-to-earth, prosaic" father, her "first and truest" love, Laurence Stanton, and her "reluctant" marriage to Jacob Sugden, right up until she became the owner of Emmerdale Farm. [cite book |last= Mackenzie |first= Lee|title= Annie Sugdens Country Diary|year=1987|publisher=Star Books, London|id=ISBN 0352302569] Annie Sugden's "Emmerdale Farm Cookbook" was also released in 1984. [cite book |title= "Emmerdale Farm Cookbook"|year=1984|publisher=Ward Lock Limited]

References