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| - The year was heavy on cast exits as a number of long standing characters departed. Paula Tilbrook decided to retire as Betty Eagleton in an exit story which saw Betty leave for Australia in May. She would make a final fleeting appearance on Christmas Day. Sammy Winward also dropped out, having already announced her departure the previous year. Katie Sugden was killed off in a decision which left Sammy reportedly relieved to have her safety net of ever returning to the programme removed, fueling her motivation to make a success of future projects. Onscreen, her death would trigger the biggest storyline to involve the Sugden family in a number of years. Charlie Hardwick also shocked fans by announcing on Loose Women in June that she was quitting the show after appearing since 2004. Val Pollard's exit was screened less than two months later. On 8th December, news broke that Shirley Stelfox had passed away following a short battle with cancer. Shirley had clocked up fifteen years at Emmerdale. Also on 16th August, actress Kitty McGeever, who last appeared as Lizzie Lakely in 2013 before the actress took a break due to ill health, passed away. Kitty had been waiting for a kidney transplant but sadly this had never happened. Other departures for the year included Natalie Anderson as Alicia Metcalfe, Alicya Eyo as Ruby Haswell and Kelli Hollis as Ali Spencer. In August, viewers believed Michael Parr had bowed out as Ross Barton in a surprise exit after two years. A fight between Ross and his onscreen brother Pete saw Ross fall and crack his head. Pete, believing his brother to be dead, covered his death and buried him in a shallow grave in woodland. Michael Parr did his best to convince fans that he had left, jokingly requesting employment opportunities on Twitter and a petition was started online by devastated fans wanting writers to bring Ross back to the programme. The petition ran up 7,000 signatures and Ross returned to screen less than three weeks later. Though Ross's return had always been planned, some online news reports have falsely taken credit for bringing Michael back to the programme through the power of the petition. Temporary exits came from Emma Atkins and Nicola Wheeler as both actresses went on maternity leave. Emma opted to take a longer break and remained missing for most of the year, returning infrequently to push certain storylines along. Trudie Goodwin also took a break from the programme allowing Georgia Sharma to depart the village on a cruise. Cast additions for the year included the arrival of Gillian Kearney as Emma Barton and the return of Carly Hope, now portrayed by Gemma Atkinson. Denise Black as Joanie Wright also reprised her role along with Huey Quinn as Kyle Winchester. Two other former characters also returned to the programme for visits - Mathew Bose as Paul Lambert for six episodes between March and September and Rik Makarem as Nikhil Sharma. One of the biggest surprise returns of the year saw Gemma Oaten reprise her role as Rachel Breckle for Charity Dingle's trial in January. Here, the programme managed to succeed in keeping the secret where they had failed previously with Roxy Shahidi's return in 2013. Gemma would stay with the programme for eight months before departing again. A dramatic helicopter stunt announcement was reported in the press in August. Initial reports indicated that the stunt would be of catastrophic proportions for the residents and would rival the plane crash of 1993, though in reality the helicopter crash failed to reach the impact of destruction or aftermath on the village that the plane crash had previously. Series Producer Kate Oates later revealed that the crash was originally planned for later in the year but bosses at ITV had requested the crash to be planned into storylines for August. Not unlike the plane crash twenty-two years previously, the stunt also attracted controvery for similarities to the real-life helicopter crash in Glasgow in 2013. The programme was cleared by Ofcom of being insensitive however. In other news, The Emmerdale Club, the official fan club set up by Jenny Godfrey in 1990 celebrated it's 25th anniversary in January. The club and it's members celebrated with a series of special reflective newsletters distributed to members throughout the year.
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