Betty Eagleton

Betty was born in Beckindale, but left to work as a tiller girl in London. She later returned to Beckindale and married old school friend, Wally Eagleton. Following Wally's death, Betty returns to Beckindale village. She soon becomes known as one of the village gossips. Betty also looks for her former partner Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards). Betty settles in with Seth and the pair host a 1940s theme night at Christmas. Betty regularly stands up for what she believes in, and even tries to call off Zoe Tate's (Leah Bracknell) lesbian wedding.

Betty's former boyfriend Reggie arrives in the village. It transpires that Betty and Reggie dated while working in the Windmill Theatre in London. On the day she went to tell him she was expecting their baby, she found him in bed with another woman and had an abortion. This left her unable to have any children of her own, which she kept a secret. Knowing this, Reggie tries to blackmail Betty by threatening to tell Seth. Instead, Betty tells him herself and Seth drives Reggie out of the village. Betty decides to visit her friend Kathy Glover (Malandra Burrows) in Australia and goes on an extended holiday. Seth joins her, but she gets homesick and returns to Emmerdale alone several months later. On his way home, Seth dies on the aeroplane. Betty is waiting at the airport when Kathy tells her the news.

After Seth's funeral, Betty takes the coffin and buries it in the countryside, helped by Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) and Sam Dingle (James Hooton). A fake coffin arrives containing a sack of sand and is buried in the Emmerdale cemetery. The funeral also sees the brief return of Betty and Seth's former lodger, Biff Fowler (Stuart Wade). Soon after, Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) moves in with Betty. After lamenting a lack of contact with his son, Terence Turner (Nick Brimble), Betty gets in touch with him and convinces him to return to the village. It soon emerges that Terence sexually abused his sister, Steph Stokes (Lorraine Chase), as a child. Unable to accept this, Alan lashes out at Betty and moves into Holdgate Farm with Terence. Alan realises the truth not long after and returns. Steph's new husband, Adam Forsythe (Richard Shelton), murders Terence soon after this, and both Adam and Steph are sent to jail for their crime. As Betty and Alan struggle to get over this, a new person enters Betty's life, Sandy Thomas (Freddie Jones), the father of local vicar, Ashley Thomas (John Middleton). Ashley and Sandy do not get on following an argument, so Sandy moves in with Betty and Alan.

When Mark Wylde's (Maxwell Caulfield) body is found, Betty originally thinks it might have been Seth's and admits to Alan that they buried him in Home Farm grounds and sandbags were buried at the cemetery. When a fire spreads through Emmerdale, it reaches Betty's house and she has to be saved by the residents. She is taken to hospital suffering with smoke inhalation. Her friends Alan, Edna Birch (Shirley Stelfox) and Pearl Ladderbanks (Meg Johnson) help her to recover. Betty subsequently goes on a six-month cruise. She sells her house to Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins), and she and Alan become sitting tenants. This causes some problems, particularly when Victoria insists on swapping bedrooms with Alan, but helps to do a lot of repair work that Alan and Betty were no longer capable of doing. Betty is saddened when Alan dies in his sleep on the night of his return from a bike tour.

Betty and Pearl arranges a fitting funeral for Alan, but are shocked when his daughter, Steph, returns after a seven year absence in prison. Betty is on the judging panel to decide who the next vicar of Emmerdale will be – Ashley or newcomer Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton). Although Edna and Pearl are keen for Ashley to return, Betty feels that Harriet will be better able to modernise the church. Betty departs on a cruise around New Zealand by herself. On her return, she is furious when Victoria explains that she had stopped reading her emails because she found them boring. Betty later announces that she is leaving Emmerdale to move back to Australia, but makes up with Victoria shortly before she leaves. On the day of her departure, Betty learns that Laurel is an alcoholic and she advises her to get clean. A crowd gathers to see Betty off, before her lover, Reuben Archibald (Edmund Herd), arrives in a limousine to take her away. On Christmas Day, she video calls Victoria, who then takes the laptop to the Woolpack where Betty talks to all of her friends. Finn Barton (Joe Gill) visits Betty in Australia for three weeks. Sandy later goes to live with Betty and a couple of years later, Betty rings Laurel to tell her that Sandy has died.

Laura-Jane Tyler from Inside Soap praised the character during her final scenes, saying "She may be a touch frail these days, but Betty Eagleton proved she was still a force to be reckoned with in Emmerdale this week – funny, feisty and smart as a whip. They don't make 'em like actress Paula Tilbrook any more!"[3]

• Betty Eagleton at itv.com
• Betty Eagleton at Holy Soap