The actor Andy Devine, who has died aged 79 of pneumonia following a fall, spent 10 years from 2000 in the rural TV soap Emmerdale as the lazy, scruffy alcoholic Shadrach Dingle. The character was first seen at the funeral of his nephew Butch, when he became drunk and fell asleep in church.
The Dingle clan had by then become regulars in Emmerdale, bringing drama and comedy to a serial that had begun as a tale of gentle farming folk. Shadrach’s younger brother, Zak, was the Dingle patriarch, a lovable rogue. Devine’s character could rarely be described as lovable, although maybe he deserved sympathy when it emerged that his girlfriend, Faith, had cheated on him with his brother, married him while pregnant, and let him believe that he was the father of Zak’s son Cain. Shadrach and Faith also had a daughter, Chastity.
