Rodney Blackstock
Encyclopedia
Rodney Blackstock is a fictional character
on the ITV
soap opera
Emmerdale
. He is played by Patrick Mower
.
He’d been invited to meet Bernice by her fiancé Ashley Thomas
- who had no idea of their troubled history. When Bernice realised he was her father, she was furious with Ashley and almost cancelled their wedding but on Christmas Day 2000, Rodney looked on proudly as Bernice and Ashley got married.
Settling into life in the village, the aging Romeo started dating new barmaid Louise Appleton
. Rich, suave and charming, Rodney had never had much trouble attracting the ladies - but always had problems with sticking with just the one.
Ever since he’d come back, Rodney and his ex-wife had fought like cat and dog but there was clearly still an underlying attraction there. When the former spouses found themselves in bed together, Louise left Rodney and he threw himself into work again.
Meanwhile, Rodney was delighted when his younger daughter Nicola
arrived in Emmerdale, desperate to get to know Bernice.
It looked like they would be friends forever until chef Carlos Diaz
turned up to spoil the party. Bernice had a miscarriage
and started sleeping with Carlos, who was already dating Nicola.
Desperate to hold on to him, Nicola pretended she was pregnant and got Rodney to pay for a huge wedding - but the truth came out, and Nicola was left heartbroken.
When Bernice left a few months later, Rodney was devastated. As far as women are concerned, Rodney enjoyed a brief fling with Steph Stokes in 2003, but in 2004 his life got more complicated by the arrival of Diane’s sister, Val Lambert. Thrilled to discover Rodney was still handsome and rich too, Val was quick to start dating him and enjoyed the luxuries Rodney’s wealth afforded her. However, while he enjoyed spending time with Val, Rodney was still in love with Diane. When she discovered she had colon cancer, Rodney was horrified and declared his undying love to her.
However, she didn’t want to rekindle their relationship - and rejected him in favour of boyfriend Jack Sugden
. When Diane and Jack got married, Rodney and Val had a vicious showdown outside the church in which she revealed that he was the father of her son, Paul.
Horrified and unable to cope with Paul’s sexuality, Rodney struggled to bond with his son and the pair spent months at loggerheads before finally reconciling.
Diane couldn’t believe that her sister and her ex-husband had had an affair behind her back, but was so happy with Jack that she forgave them both.
Meanwhile, Rodney started getting closely entangled in his children’s love lives. Nicola was dating fishmonger Simon Meredith
and no one was more delighted than Rodney when they got engaged.
However, the arrival of Simon’s mother Lesley proved a headache. Lesley was absolutely smitten with Rodney and hoped they might get together. So imagine her delight when the two of them got blind drunk one night and spent a steamy night together!
The next day, Rodney was wracked with guilt, knowing he wasn’t attracted to Lesley. Meanwhile, she was already dreaming of a happily ever after.
Fortunately for Rodney, it wasn’t him who put Lesley in the picture. Spiteful Kelly Windsor
marked Lesley’s card by taking her place at an event Rodney was attending and leaving her humiliated and heartbroken. What started as a fling became a more serious relationship between Kelly and Rodney. But while he was enjoying some romantic luck, his children’s relationships were about to fall spectacularly apart!
Nicola and Simon’s romance had been on the rocks for a while. His business had fallen apart and they’d been forced to cut back drastically. In boredom, Nicola developed a crush on Ivan Jones, their lodger and the boyfriend of her half-brother Paul! When Simon and Nicola split, she became obsessed with Ivan and tried to lure him into bed repeatedly. When Lesley saw them half-dressed, she assumed they were having an affair and Nicola let her. As accusations flew, Rodney took Nicola’s side, believing Ivan had been messing her about.
When the truth was revealed, Rodney felt horribly embarrassed and realized he’d set his relationship with Paul back by a pretty long way. It took time but now father and son are reconciled, to the point where Rodney was even in charge of planning Paul's wedding to Jonny Foster
.
Rodney lost both his house and antiques business due to owing a large amount of money to the Inland Revenue. Rodney claimed at the time that "Dodging tax was in his blood!"
Although he had suspected this might happen, the large amounts of money he had hidden were all found, and none by him!
He took various jobs ranging from a solar panel salesman to a window cleaner and eventually found permanent employment at Home Farm, working for the King brothers, Matthew King, Jimmy King
and Carl King. In 2008, he followed Carl to work for their rival, Donald De Souza
but was soon back at Home Farm.
Nicola returned after a break of eighteen months, and, despite initial promises to make amends for past misdemeanours, soon showed her true colours by threatening to take David Metcalfe
away from Jasmine Thomas
, and mocking Paul about Ivan. She claimed she was the widow of Donald De Souza
, only for Jasmine to reveal that Donald was alive and hidden away comatose.
Rodney, unable to see through his daughter's crocodile tears, moved in with her after Paul forced him to choose between them. Rodney soon patched up his relationship with Paul and worked with Val to plan the stag do and reception for their son's civil partnership.
Upon learning Nicola was homeless, Rodney (who had no idea she'd tried to kill Donald) rented Mill Brook Cottage from the Kings, agreeing to live with his daughter as long as she paid half the rent. This didn't last as he discovered, via Belle Dingle, that Nicola had sold his "Rollercoaster Rod" stories to a publisher, claiming to have written them herself. He threw her out and Nicola stayed in a few places before settling into the vicarage with Ashley and Laurel.
Laurel and Ashley suffered an awful tragedy - their baby son died and then they learned that
their son had been switched at birth. These events traumatized Ashley's daughter, Gabby, and as she felt alone, she spent a lot of time with her grandfather and confided her problems in him. Rodney wrote and illustrated a book, Rollercoaster Rod, loosely based on his fairground days, with characters such as Terrible Trixie (a Nicola double) and "Derek Bollard" (Eric Pollard
).
When Nicola found out what she'd been the inspiration for, she wasn't pleased but sensed the moneymaking potential behind the book. After repeatedly trying and failing to get Rodney to publish the book, she went to a publishing firm behind his back. They told her she needed to write several more books. David tried to find other stories around Rodney's house, to the point of "accidentally" leaving a tape recorder when Rodney was reading a story to Gabby (the story he read was actually many years old and David only stopped Nicola from committing plagiarism in the nick of time). Nicola finally told David she'd write the other stories herself.
Rodney's son Paul had marital problems for most of 2008, culminating in partner Jonny moving to Australia
. At the beginning of 2009, Jonny asked Paul to join him, but Val, who didn't want to lose her son, lied to him that Rodney had a serious heart condition he was trying to keep from everyone. Paul decided to stay, and soon interrupted Rodney during a dalliance with a married woman whom he'd met while arranging shoots at Home Farm. She left, assuming Rodney was seriously ill, and Rodney was angry with Val for her lies. He accompanied Paul to the airport, saying goodbye to the son he'd come to accept and love.
His relationship with Nicola was not as warm, and he was surprised in May 2009 when Laurel told him Nicola was pregnant. He urged her to keep the child, but Nicola said he'd been a bad father to her and she didn't want to put her own baby through a bad experience. She finally decided not to have an abortion, but Rodney was guilt-ridden that both Bernice and Nicola had such problems accepting their children. He offered her his support and moved her back into his home.
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...
. He is played by Patrick Mower
Patrick Mower
Patrick Mower , whose original name was Patrick Archibald Shaw, is an English actor well known for his many television and occasional film roles, often as a detective or secret agent.-Life:...
.
2000–
When Rodney Blackstock turned up in Emmerdale, no one was more surprised to see him than his ex-wife Diane. He left her and their daughter, Bernice, when she was just five years old, and didn't send so much as a postcard.He’d been invited to meet Bernice by her fiancé Ashley Thomas
Ashley 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...
- who had no idea of their troubled history. When Bernice realised he was her father, she was furious with Ashley and almost cancelled their wedding but on Christmas Day 2000, Rodney looked on proudly as Bernice and Ashley got married.
Settling into life in the village, the aging Romeo started dating new barmaid Louise Appleton
Louise Appleton
Louise Appleton is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Emily Symons. Aussie Louise arrived in the village as a temporary barmaid and ended up as co-landlady with best friend Diane Sugden, before selling to Diane's sister Val Lambert in 2006...
. Rich, suave and charming, Rodney had never had much trouble attracting the ladies - but always had problems with sticking with just the one.
Ever since he’d come back, Rodney and his ex-wife had fought like cat and dog but there was clearly still an underlying attraction there. When the former spouses found themselves in bed together, Louise left Rodney and he threw himself into work again.
Meanwhile, Rodney was delighted when his younger daughter Nicola
Nicola Blackstock
Nicola King is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She has been played by Nicola Wheeler since she joined the soap in 2001.-Casting:...
arrived in Emmerdale, desperate to get to know Bernice.
It looked like they would be friends forever until chef Carlos Diaz
Carlos Diaz (Emmerdale)
Carlos Diaz was a fictional character in ITV's Emmerdale from 2000-2001. He was played by Gary Turner.-Character's background:Carlos had an on-off-on affair with Bernice Thomas while he was engaged to Bernice's half sister Nicola Blackstock. Bernice was married to vicar Ashley Thomas during her...
turned up to spoil the party. Bernice had a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
and started sleeping with Carlos, who was already dating Nicola.
Desperate to hold on to him, Nicola pretended she was pregnant and got Rodney to pay for a huge wedding - but the truth came out, and Nicola was left heartbroken.
When Bernice left a few months later, Rodney was devastated. As far as women are concerned, Rodney enjoyed a brief fling with Steph Stokes in 2003, but in 2004 his life got more complicated by the arrival of Diane’s sister, Val Lambert. Thrilled to discover Rodney was still handsome and rich too, Val was quick to start dating him and enjoyed the luxuries Rodney’s wealth afforded her. However, while he enjoyed spending time with Val, Rodney was still in love with Diane. When she discovered she had colon cancer, Rodney was horrified and declared his undying love to her.
However, she didn’t want to rekindle their relationship - and rejected him in favour of boyfriend Jack Sugden
Jack Sugden
John Jacob "Jack" Sugden is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Emmerdale. The character was originally played by Andrew Burt from 1972 to 1974 with a brief return in 1976, when he left for Italy to write a book. On his return in 1980 he was played by Clive Hornby...
. When Diane and Jack got married, Rodney and Val had a vicious showdown outside the church in which she revealed that he was the father of her son, Paul.
Horrified and unable to cope with Paul’s sexuality, Rodney struggled to bond with his son and the pair spent months at loggerheads before finally reconciling.
Diane couldn’t believe that her sister and her ex-husband had had an affair behind her back, but was so happy with Jack that she forgave them both.
Meanwhile, Rodney started getting closely entangled in his children’s love lives. Nicola was dating fishmonger Simon Meredith
Simon Meredith
Simon Meredith was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He was played by Dale Meeks.-Background:When Simon Meredith first laid eyes on Nicola Blackstock, he knew she was the woman for him. Unfortunately for the friendly fishmonger, it took the object of his affections longer to...
and no one was more delighted than Rodney when they got engaged.
However, the arrival of Simon’s mother Lesley proved a headache. Lesley was absolutely smitten with Rodney and hoped they might get together. So imagine her delight when the two of them got blind drunk one night and spent a steamy night together!
The next day, Rodney was wracked with guilt, knowing he wasn’t attracted to Lesley. Meanwhile, she was already dreaming of a happily ever after.
Fortunately for Rodney, it wasn’t him who put Lesley in the picture. Spiteful Kelly Windsor
Kelly Windsor
Kelly Windsor is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale, played by Adele Silva. The character first appeared on 10 August 1993. Silva portrayed her from August 1993 until November 2000. In February 2005 it was announced that Silva would be reprising her role and she...
marked Lesley’s card by taking her place at an event Rodney was attending and leaving her humiliated and heartbroken. What started as a fling became a more serious relationship between Kelly and Rodney. But while he was enjoying some romantic luck, his children’s relationships were about to fall spectacularly apart!
Nicola and Simon’s romance had been on the rocks for a while. His business had fallen apart and they’d been forced to cut back drastically. In boredom, Nicola developed a crush on Ivan Jones, their lodger and the boyfriend of her half-brother Paul! When Simon and Nicola split, she became obsessed with Ivan and tried to lure him into bed repeatedly. When Lesley saw them half-dressed, she assumed they were having an affair and Nicola let her. As accusations flew, Rodney took Nicola’s side, believing Ivan had been messing her about.
When the truth was revealed, Rodney felt horribly embarrassed and realized he’d set his relationship with Paul back by a pretty long way. It took time but now father and son are reconciled, to the point where Rodney was even in charge of planning Paul's wedding to Jonny Foster
Jonny Foster
Jonathan "Jonny" Foster is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Richard Grieve. He appeared from 2007 to 2008 and in 2009...
.
Rodney lost both his house and antiques business due to owing a large amount of money to the Inland Revenue. Rodney claimed at the time that "Dodging tax was in his blood!"
Although he had suspected this might happen, the large amounts of money he had hidden were all found, and none by him!
He took various jobs ranging from a solar panel salesman to a window cleaner and eventually found permanent employment at Home Farm, working for the King brothers, Matthew King, Jimmy King
Jimmy King
Jimmy Hal King is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA.-College career:He was part of the famed University of Michigan Wolverines Fab Five along with Ray Jackson, current NBA player Juwan Howard, and former NBA players Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, that reached the 1992 and...
and Carl King. In 2008, he followed Carl to work for their rival, Donald De Souza
Donald De Souza
Donald De Souza is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Michael Jayston. Appearing between 2007 and 2008, Donald De Souza arrives as the husband of Nicola Blackstock, although their marriage quickly falls apart...
but was soon back at Home Farm.
Nicola returned after a break of eighteen months, and, despite initial promises to make amends for past misdemeanours, soon showed her true colours by threatening to take 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:...
away from Jasmine Thomas
Jasmine Thomas
Jasmine Thomas is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.-Storylines:Jasmine arrived in Emmerdale on 30 June 2005. Sent to the village by her parents during her holidays from boarding school, she stayed with her uncle Ashley Thomas, the...
, and mocking Paul about Ivan. She claimed she was the widow of Donald De Souza
Donald De Souza
Donald De Souza is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Michael Jayston. Appearing between 2007 and 2008, Donald De Souza arrives as the husband of Nicola Blackstock, although their marriage quickly falls apart...
, only for Jasmine to reveal that Donald was alive and hidden away comatose.
Rodney, unable to see through his daughter's crocodile tears, moved in with her after Paul forced him to choose between them. Rodney soon patched up his relationship with Paul and worked with Val to plan the stag do and reception for their son's civil partnership.
Upon learning Nicola was homeless, Rodney (who had no idea she'd tried to kill Donald) rented Mill Brook Cottage from the Kings, agreeing to live with his daughter as long as she paid half the rent. This didn't last as he discovered, via Belle Dingle, that Nicola had sold his "Rollercoaster Rod" stories to a publisher, claiming to have written them herself. He threw her out and Nicola stayed in a few places before settling into the vicarage with Ashley and Laurel.
Laurel and Ashley suffered an awful tragedy - their baby son died and then they learned that
their son had been switched at birth. These events traumatized Ashley's daughter, Gabby, and as she felt alone, she spent a lot of time with her grandfather and confided her problems in him. Rodney wrote and illustrated a book, Rollercoaster Rod, loosely based on his fairground days, with characters such as Terrible Trixie (a Nicola double) and "Derek Bollard" (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...
).
When Nicola found out what she'd been the inspiration for, she wasn't pleased but sensed the moneymaking potential behind the book. After repeatedly trying and failing to get Rodney to publish the book, she went to a publishing firm behind his back. They told her she needed to write several more books. David tried to find other stories around Rodney's house, to the point of "accidentally" leaving a tape recorder when Rodney was reading a story to Gabby (the story he read was actually many years old and David only stopped Nicola from committing plagiarism in the nick of time). Nicola finally told David she'd write the other stories herself.
Rodney's son Paul had marital problems for most of 2008, culminating in partner Jonny moving to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. At the beginning of 2009, Jonny asked Paul to join him, but Val, who didn't want to lose her son, lied to him that Rodney had a serious heart condition he was trying to keep from everyone. Paul decided to stay, and soon interrupted Rodney during a dalliance with a married woman whom he'd met while arranging shoots at Home Farm. She left, assuming Rodney was seriously ill, and Rodney was angry with Val for her lies. He accompanied Paul to the airport, saying goodbye to the son he'd come to accept and love.
His relationship with Nicola was not as warm, and he was surprised in May 2009 when Laurel told him Nicola was pregnant. He urged her to keep the child, but Nicola said he'd been a bad father to her and she didn't want to put her own baby through a bad experience. She finally decided not to have an abortion, but Rodney was guilt-ridden that both Bernice and Nicola had such problems accepting their children. He offered her his support and moved her back into his home.
External links
- Rodney Blackstock 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...