Emmerdale fans all know that it’s not just adults who have faced their fair share of dramatic storylines while on the ITV hit soap but also the children of the village too.
Throughout the past 50 years, viewers have been introduced to a number of iconic child residents, however, as with all soaps, many child stars are later replaced by older actors.
Here are some of Emmerdale’s most famous child stars and what they are up to now since leaving the ITV soap.
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Sophie Amber Moore Played Sarah Sugden
We’ve seen five different people portray Emmerdale’s Sarah Sugden down the years. Emmerdale viewers have known Katie Hill, 19, as Sarah Sugden since 2017, she took over the role from Sophia Amber Moore.
Before that, the character of Sarah had been played by Lily-May Bartley, Lucy Warren and Amber Child-Cavill.
Sophia Amber Moore, 18, born in Huddersfield, played Sarah Sugden from 2007 until 2016. The acting star enjoyed brief roles in Heartbeat and The Royal before her 334 episode stint in Emmerdale.
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According to ED!, Sophia would love to join one of Emmerdale’s rival soaps. She said: "I’ve been focusing on my school life and A-levels until I can find a suitable casting agency I like that can find me work."
And she added that she would ‘love to go to Coronation Street’. Fittingly, her sister Imogen briefly starred in Corrie as newborn baby Liam Connor Jr.
Discussing her desire to continue her acting career, Sophia explained: "I always enjoyed my scripts being posted to my house and sitting down with my mum arranging them into what scenes I was in and what I needed to learn. I knew everything on set wasn’t real life, but I needed to pretend that it was so my character was portrayed the best I could."
Toby Cockerell played Scott Windsor
The first actor to play Scott Windsor, the son of Vic Windsor, was Toby Cockerell from 1993-1996 before Scott left to join the Army in the soap.
Since leaving the show Toby Cockerell has continued to act and has appeared in TV series including One Tree Hill and theatre productions at venues such as The Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
It has been reported that he now works as a Product Manager at his make-up artist wife Zoe Rene's company.
Ben Freeman later took over from Toby Cockerell in 1998 following Scott Windsor's return to the soap, which saw Scott become embroiled in huge stories including an affair and fathering a child with Zoe Tate.
Hannah Midgley played Victoria Sugden
Victoria Sugden has become an Emmerdale icon since arriving on our screens in 1996.
After Jessica Heywood played baby Victoria, Hannah Midgley took over at the age of four years old and played the fan-favourite character for nearly 10 years from 1997.
In 2006, she was replaced by current actress Isobel Hodgins so that Hannah could focus on her education.
However, more than eight years later, a grown-up Hannah returned to our TV screens in the BBC drama In The Club as Rosie, between 2014 to 2016.
Her IMDB page has not listed any roles for her since, and it is not clear whether she is still continuing to act, or if she has moved into a different career path.
Christopher Smith played Robert Sugden
Long before Ryan Hawley and Karl Davies made the character their own, Robert was played by Christopher Smith between 1989 to 2001.
However, The Sun reports that in September 2001, Christopher sued Yorkshire Television for unfair dismissal from his part as Robert, stating that it was "down to producers wanting an older actor for more adult storylines."
According to IMDB, the star also had a role as Nick Hadley in a 2002 episode of Holby City, as well as working on a short called Relationship Season in 2011.
When it comes to his love life Christopher married his fiancé Sarah at Bolton Abbey in 2012 and they have one child together.
Dexter Ansell played Lucas Taylor
Dexter Ansell appeared as Lucas Taylor in Emmerdale between 2019 to 2021, after previously starring in the soap as Jimmy King's son Carl Holliday.
During this time, he formed close bonds with his co-stars, but in 2020, covid restrictions meant that child stars were not allowed to be on set for health and safety reasons.
In 2021 fans were shocked when the role of Lucas Taylor was taken over by newcomer Noah Ryan Aspinall.
Despite leaving the ITV soap, Dexter has not left our screens, as he previously appeared in the critically acclaimed Sky series The Midwich Cuckoos as David Saunders.
He's not the only famous star in his family though, as his dad is none other than Jonathan Ansell of group G4.
G4 finished second on the X Factor in 2004 and sold more than two million albums, as well as four sell-out tours, before splitting in 2007 and reforming again in 2014.
Luke Tittensor played Darren 'Daz' Eden
Darren 'Daz' Eden was at the centre of many dramatic storylines during his time on Emmerdale between 2003 to 2009.
However, it is reported that after six years on the soap, Luke was axed from Emmerdale after he pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm after fracturing a 16-year-old's jaw.
He has since continued to appear on our screens, starring in the BBC drama The Beneficiary as part of the Moving On Series, as well as the 2014 film Pudsey the Dog: The Movie.
Luke also appeared in the film Madame Bovary, as well as BBC One school drama Waterloo Road.
He's not the only famous star in his family either, as his twin brother Elliot Tittensor played Carl Gallagher in the hit Channel 4 series Shameless.
After six years away from our TV screens, Luke has also recently made a return to acting in the Game Of Thrones prequel House Of Dragon as Ser Arryk Carguyll.
Emily Mather played Belle Dingle
Belle Dingle first arrived in the dales in 1998 as the youngest daughter of Zak and Lisa Dingle. However, before Eden Taylor-Draper took over the role in 2005, Belle was first played by Emily Mather from the age of just 10 days old.
It is reported that despite her Emmerdale stardom, Emily decided to make a career u-turn and move away from acting completely following seven years on the soap.
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