Edna Birch
Encyclopedia
Edna Birch is a fictional character
on the ITV
soap opera
Emmerdale
. She is played by Shirley Stelfox
.
In a village marred by affairs, double-crossing and sin, widow Edna is a paragon of virtue. She first appeared on the show in 2000, but had been living in the village for many years. She may have a vicious temper, but Edna has a good heart, which is demonstrated by her devotion to her friends and her beloved dogs.
began dating pub landlady Bernice Blackstock and was one of a group of people who opposed the match.
Edna was pleased when her teenaged granddaughter Eve
, came to live with her in 2001. Eve became involved in a hit and run accident, when her boyfriend Marc Reynolds accidentally killed their teacher Miss Strickland. Edna sent Eve back to live with her father in France after she kicked Edna's beloved dog Batley. When Batley fell ill, Edna was heartbroken and it took a long time for her to get over his death. Edna’s closest companions have been her dogs, Batley and Tootsie. Tootsie brought a lot of sunshine back into Edna’s life.
Len Reynolds
was an old friend of Edna and once it looked like romance might be brewing between them. Len did tell Edna that he was in love with her. Unfortunately Edna didn't feel the same and told Len this, although she was displeased when he started dating Pearl Ladderbanks
. Since the flamboyant pensioner was her absolute opposite, it took Edna a long time to warm to her. A woman of contradictions, Edna was the only person to defend Len Reynolds and Pearl when Pearl's son, rapist Frank Bernard Hartbourne, came to live with them. Her friendship helped them decide to stay in Emmerdale when everyone else nearly drove them out. They bonded over having trouble with their sons and are now close friends. Edna was devastated by the demise of her beloved friend Len in 2006. She and Pearl fell out about Len's feelings for Edna for a while but later made up.
In June 2004 Edna was hit by a car while walking Tootsie. She fell into a ditch, breaking her hip. Sam Dingle
eventually admitted responsibility for the hit and run
.
She was ashamed to learn that her grandmother was a prostitute and for a while, went into hiding. She developed a purpose in life when she went to work for local millionaire Tom King
. An unlikely duo, Tom and Edna became close pals. Knowing he could trust her, Tom often turned to her for advice. Taking King and Sons in hand proved quite difficult, causing her to clash repeatedly with Jimmy and Matthew King and quit when Tom retired. Edna later joined Tom when he started Home Farm Estates. Edna did not always approve of his decisions but believed Tom was a good man. Edna was disappointed when Tom chose to marry Rosemary Sinclair, as she had fallen for him.
In October 2006 Peter Birch arrived in Emmerdale to ask his mother to attend Eve's wedded blessing in France. Edna refused, as she resented Peter's rejection of her faith and felt that she had failed to look after Eve properly. Edna was later persuaded to attend the blessing, where she came face to with sister Lily Butterfield
after an estrangement of many years.
Edna confided in Tom that Lily was Peter's birth mother. Edna adopted him as a baby but Tom and Edna's friendship ended when he used this to blackmail her to keep quiet about the Kings' role in the show home disaster. As a result, Edna decided to tell Peter the truth about his parentage so Tom couldn't blackmail her. Unfortunately Peter didn't take it well and rejected Edna completely. Edna hated Tom for this and handed in her resignation. Nevertheless, she was sad to learn of his death.
On 1 March 2007, Edna's dog, Tootsie was not feeling herself. Billy Hopwood
noticed and Edna phoned veterinarian Hari so he made a home visit and found Tootsie was close to giving birth. Edna hadn't known Tootsie was pregnant. Later on, two healthy puppies were delivered.
Edna's sister Lily returned to the village in 2007 and began growing cannabis
in Home Farm's polytunnel
. She found cannabis was more effective for her arthritis than prescription medicines but Eli Dingle discovered what Lily was doing at Home Farm. He blackmailed her into splitting her crop with him in return for his silence but he was selling his share.
When the police invaded Edna's home and arrested Lily, Edna evicted Lily in disgust at her unlawful activity. Lily returned in March 2008 and during an argument, Edna admitted she'd always resented her sister for being the one who had adventures. Lily and Edna made up.
Following the drama with the winning raffle ticket, Edna asked Peter to visit, which he did. She asked him to pay back the money he had got from selling the car Lily and her friends/colleagues had won but he refused, claiming it was tied up. When Edna confronted him over taking Lily's savings, it became clear he felt she owed him that for abandoning him as a baby. Edna told Lily that he had agreed to pay back the money but quietly arranged to withdraw the money needed from her savings.
Near the end of 2008, Lily began having dizzy spells and learned she had a brain aneurysm. She refused to face the severity of her condition, which only Rodney Blackstock
knew about, and she swore him to secrecy. Edna became suspicious of Lily's relationship with Rodney. She, believed they were in a relationship and became even more suspicious when they disappeared together during December. When Lily fled hospital right before her surgery, Rodney told Edna, who, in spite of being hurt over her sister's lack of trust in her, managed to convince Lily to have the surgery. Edna convinced Lily to move in with her to help her recuperate, but after a short time, Lily felt smothered and moved back in with Pearl.
As a devout Christian, she was horrified when, in November 2008, the local church was revealed to be closing. To stop this, she and around twelve other villagers started a choir. During this time, she took in Nicola De Souza after discovering she was homeless. She later kicked Nicola out when she found out Nicola had secretly been working with David Metcalfe
and Eric Pollard
to sabotage the choir and buy and then demolish the church. This happened around the same time as the day of the choir competition, which Edna missed to be with Lily at the hospital. In spite of Edna's absence, the choir won, but Bishop George informed them the church was still being closed.
Edna and the other parishioners were furious and with the encouragement of a reformed Nicola, staged a lock-in on Christmas Day which convinced Eric and David to not buy the church. However, the church was still up for sale. In early 2009, Mark Wylde
and Natasha Wylde
bought the church. When the villagers angrily confronted them in the Woolpack, they decided to give the church to the village as a gift.
In early 2010, Edna had a lodger called Sally Spode, Sally was originally living with Ashley until he flipped and she reluctantly. Sally told Edna, that she had been beaten by her husband Vincent and that she was terrified of him. Edna then suggested to Ashley that Sally move in with her at her cottage permanently. Sally smashed Edna's window and faked that her husband Vincent did it to set scores with Sally. Edna was horrified but still allowed Sally to stay in her cottage. Later Edna found out that it was Sally who smashed her window not Vincent. Edna later believed Sally's accusations about Ashley abusing and torturing her that she informed Bishop George, who suspended Ashley as vicar pending further investigation. When Sally's true colours were revealed to Edna, she apologised to Ashley before throwing Sally out. She then confronted Sally and accused her of torturing Ashley not vice versa. Edna was disgusted with Sally and hated that she had been fooled. She then told Betty who told Pearl and the gossip about the events spread round the village. Since Sally has been gone, Ashley and Edna went back to the vicarage and found it trashed with the writing "burn in hell" above the fire, along with a family photo smashed, both were horrified.
On 27th January 2010, Ashley and Edna realised the lies that Sally had portrayed. Ashley threatened Sally that he would kill her,Later in the day Terry informs Ashley that Sally has left the village but he and Edna are left shocked when they find his house wrecked with 'burn in hell' painted on the wall but Ashley realises that it may be too late to save his marriage now.
In December 2008, the Kings lost their business empire, their home and their brother, Matthew. Carl and Jimmy King started up a haulage business and Edna was aghast when she saw the poor job Scarlett Nicholls
was doing in her attempts to be a receptionist. She helped out one day, and so impressed Jimmy that he asked her to work for them. Edna agreed and got on well with Jimmy so much so that he became convinced she had a crush on him.
Edna bonded with young Scarlett over her troubled love life, baking a pie and convincing Scarlett to pass it off as her own to boyfriend Daz. A distraught Edna lost her wedding ring, not realising she had dropped it into the pie, leading Daz to worry that Scarlett was proposing marriage. Soon they worked everything out and Edna got her ring back.
Edna's biological great-niece and adoptive granddaughter Eve returned to stay with Edna in April 2010.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
. She is played by Shirley Stelfox
Shirley Stelfox
Shirley Stelfox is an English actress, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She is best known as Edna Birch in British Soap Opera Emmerdale....
.
In a village marred by affairs, double-crossing and sin, widow Edna is a paragon of virtue. She first appeared on the show in 2000, but had been living in the village for many years. She may have a vicious temper, but Edna has a good heart, which is demonstrated by her devotion to her friends and her beloved dogs.
2000-
As a devout parishioner, Edna was horrified when local vicar Ashley ThomasAshley Thomas
Ashley Michael Thomas is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by John Middleton.-1996–99:Ashley soon began developing feelings for the landlady of the Woolpack pub, Bernice Blackstock. He tried putting them aside as Bernice was engaged to Gavin, despite suspecting that...
began dating pub landlady Bernice Blackstock and was one of a group of people who opposed the match.
Edna was pleased when her teenaged granddaughter Eve
Eve Jenson
Eve Jenson is a fictional character from the ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale, played by Suzanne Shaw. She made her first on-screen appearance on 31 August 2001. The character was originally played by Raine Davison from 2001 to 2006. In early 2010, series producer Gavin Blyth recast the role and Shaw...
, came to live with her in 2001. Eve became involved in a hit and run accident, when her boyfriend Marc Reynolds accidentally killed their teacher Miss Strickland. Edna sent Eve back to live with her father in France after she kicked Edna's beloved dog Batley. When Batley fell ill, Edna was heartbroken and it took a long time for her to get over his death. Edna’s closest companions have been her dogs, Batley and Tootsie. Tootsie brought a lot of sunshine back into Edna’s life.
Len Reynolds
Len Reynolds
Leonard "Len" Reynolds is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He was played by Peter Martin.-Character's background:...
was an old friend of Edna and once it looked like romance might be brewing between them. Len did tell Edna that he was in love with her. Unfortunately Edna didn't feel the same and told Len this, although she was displeased when he started dating Pearl Ladderbanks
Pearl Ladderbanks
Pearl Ladderbanks is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She is played by Meg Johnson. She first appeared on the show during the episode airing on 30 July 2003.-2003–07:...
. Since the flamboyant pensioner was her absolute opposite, it took Edna a long time to warm to her. A woman of contradictions, Edna was the only person to defend Len Reynolds and Pearl when Pearl's son, rapist Frank Bernard Hartbourne, came to live with them. Her friendship helped them decide to stay in Emmerdale when everyone else nearly drove them out. They bonded over having trouble with their sons and are now close friends. Edna was devastated by the demise of her beloved friend Len in 2006. She and Pearl fell out about Len's feelings for Edna for a while but later made up.
Sam Dingle
Samuel Jonah "Sam" Dingle is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by James Hooton.-Storylines:Sam first appears in 1995 and he demands ransom money from the Sugden family. After his release from prison, he worked as a dogsbody for Eric Pollard and was constantly conned...
eventually admitted responsibility for the hit and run
Hit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
.
She was ashamed to learn that her grandmother was a prostitute and for a while, went into hiding. She developed a purpose in life when she went to work for local millionaire Tom King
Tom King (Emmerdale)
Thomas "Tom" Albert King was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He appeared in the show from February 2004 to December 2006. Ken Farrington played him during the character's run.Tom grew up in Emmerdale and was keen to return...
. An unlikely duo, Tom and Edna became close pals. Knowing he could trust her, Tom often turned to her for advice. Taking King and Sons in hand proved quite difficult, causing her to clash repeatedly with Jimmy and Matthew King and quit when Tom retired. Edna later joined Tom when he started Home Farm Estates. Edna did not always approve of his decisions but believed Tom was a good man. Edna was disappointed when Tom chose to marry Rosemary Sinclair, as she had fallen for him.
In October 2006 Peter Birch arrived in Emmerdale to ask his mother to attend Eve's wedded blessing in France. Edna refused, as she resented Peter's rejection of her faith and felt that she had failed to look after Eve properly. Edna was later persuaded to attend the blessing, where she came face to with sister Lily Butterfield
Lily Butterfield
Lily Butterfield is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Anne Charleston. She made her first appearance on 3 November 2006. Lily is Edna Birch's estranged sister and the biological mother to Edna's son, Peter Birch...
after an estrangement of many years.
Edna confided in Tom that Lily was Peter's birth mother. Edna adopted him as a baby but Tom and Edna's friendship ended when he used this to blackmail her to keep quiet about the Kings' role in the show home disaster. As a result, Edna decided to tell Peter the truth about his parentage so Tom couldn't blackmail her. Unfortunately Peter didn't take it well and rejected Edna completely. Edna hated Tom for this and handed in her resignation. Nevertheless, she was sad to learn of his death.
On 1 March 2007, Edna's dog, Tootsie was not feeling herself. Billy Hopwood
Billy Hopwood
William "Billy" Hopwood is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale and was played by David Crellin. Billy is the biological father of half-brothers Andy Sugden and Daz Eden.-Storylines:...
noticed and Edna phoned veterinarian Hari so he made a home visit and found Tootsie was close to giving birth. Edna hadn't known Tootsie was pregnant. Later on, two healthy puppies were delivered.
Edna's sister Lily returned to the village in 2007 and began growing cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
in Home Farm's polytunnel
Polytunnel
A polytunnel is a tunnel made of polyethylene used to grow plants that require a higher temperature and/or humidity than that which is available in the environment....
. She found cannabis was more effective for her arthritis than prescription medicines but Eli Dingle discovered what Lily was doing at Home Farm. He blackmailed her into splitting her crop with him in return for his silence but he was selling his share.
When the police invaded Edna's home and arrested Lily, Edna evicted Lily in disgust at her unlawful activity. Lily returned in March 2008 and during an argument, Edna admitted she'd always resented her sister for being the one who had adventures. Lily and Edna made up.
Following the drama with the winning raffle ticket, Edna asked Peter to visit, which he did. She asked him to pay back the money he had got from selling the car Lily and her friends/colleagues had won but he refused, claiming it was tied up. When Edna confronted him over taking Lily's savings, it became clear he felt she owed him that for abandoning him as a baby. Edna told Lily that he had agreed to pay back the money but quietly arranged to withdraw the money needed from her savings.
Near the end of 2008, Lily began having dizzy spells and learned she had a brain aneurysm. She refused to face the severity of her condition, which only Rodney Blackstock
Rodney Blackstock
Rodney Blackstock is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Patrick Mower.-2000–:When Rodney Blackstock turned up in Emmerdale, no one was more surprised to see him than his ex-wife Diane...
knew about, and she swore him to secrecy. Edna became suspicious of Lily's relationship with Rodney. She, believed they were in a relationship and became even more suspicious when they disappeared together during December. When Lily fled hospital right before her surgery, Rodney told Edna, who, in spite of being hurt over her sister's lack of trust in her, managed to convince Lily to have the surgery. Edna convinced Lily to move in with her to help her recuperate, but after a short time, Lily felt smothered and moved back in with Pearl.
As a devout Christian, she was horrified when, in November 2008, the local church was revealed to be closing. To stop this, she and around twelve other villagers started a choir. During this time, she took in Nicola De Souza after discovering she was homeless. She later kicked Nicola out when she found out Nicola had secretly been working with David Metcalfe
David Metcalfe
David Eric Metcalfe is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Matthew Wolfenden. He is the illegitimate son of Eric Pollard-2006–09:...
and Eric Pollard
Eric Pollard
Eric Charles Pollard is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Chris Chittell.Pollard has appeared on the show since 1986, making him the second longest running current character after Alan Turner who has appeared since 1982. He has lied to, cheated and swindled...
to sabotage the choir and buy and then demolish the church. This happened around the same time as the day of the choir competition, which Edna missed to be with Lily at the hospital. In spite of Edna's absence, the choir won, but Bishop George informed them the church was still being closed.
Edna and the other parishioners were furious and with the encouragement of a reformed Nicola, staged a lock-in on Christmas Day which convinced Eric and David to not buy the church. However, the church was still up for sale. In early 2009, Mark Wylde
Mark Wylde
Mark Wylde was a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Maxwell Caulfield. He made his first appearance on 15 January 2009 and departed on 3 January 2010....
and Natasha Wylde
Natasha Wylde
Natasha Jane Wylde is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Amanda Donohoe. She made her first appearance, along with her husband Mark Wylde, on 15 January 2009. It was announced in July 2010 that Donohoe had quit her role as Natasha, and would leave the series later...
bought the church. When the villagers angrily confronted them in the Woolpack, they decided to give the church to the village as a gift.
In early 2010, Edna had a lodger called Sally Spode, Sally was originally living with Ashley until he flipped and she reluctantly. Sally told Edna, that she had been beaten by her husband Vincent and that she was terrified of him. Edna then suggested to Ashley that Sally move in with her at her cottage permanently. Sally smashed Edna's window and faked that her husband Vincent did it to set scores with Sally. Edna was horrified but still allowed Sally to stay in her cottage. Later Edna found out that it was Sally who smashed her window not Vincent. Edna later believed Sally's accusations about Ashley abusing and torturing her that she informed Bishop George, who suspended Ashley as vicar pending further investigation. When Sally's true colours were revealed to Edna, she apologised to Ashley before throwing Sally out. She then confronted Sally and accused her of torturing Ashley not vice versa. Edna was disgusted with Sally and hated that she had been fooled. She then told Betty who told Pearl and the gossip about the events spread round the village. Since Sally has been gone, Ashley and Edna went back to the vicarage and found it trashed with the writing "burn in hell" above the fire, along with a family photo smashed, both were horrified.
On 27th January 2010, Ashley and Edna realised the lies that Sally had portrayed. Ashley threatened Sally that he would kill her,Later in the day Terry informs Ashley that Sally has left the village but he and Edna are left shocked when they find his house wrecked with 'burn in hell' painted on the wall but Ashley realises that it may be too late to save his marriage now.
In December 2008, the Kings lost their business empire, their home and their brother, Matthew. Carl and Jimmy King started up a haulage business and Edna was aghast when she saw the poor job Scarlett Nicholls
Scarlett Nicholls
Scarlett Mary Nicholls is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She is played by Kelsey-Beth Crossley and made her first appearance on 2 March 2007. It was announced on 8 May 2011, that Crossley was leaving the show. She made her final appearance on 28 July...
was doing in her attempts to be a receptionist. She helped out one day, and so impressed Jimmy that he asked her to work for them. Edna agreed and got on well with Jimmy so much so that he became convinced she had a crush on him.
Edna bonded with young Scarlett over her troubled love life, baking a pie and convincing Scarlett to pass it off as her own to boyfriend Daz. A distraught Edna lost her wedding ring, not realising she had dropped it into the pie, leading Daz to worry that Scarlett was proposing marriage. Soon they worked everything out and Edna got her ring back.
Edna's biological great-niece and adoptive granddaughter Eve returned to stay with Edna in April 2010.
External links
- Edna Birch at itv.comItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...