Robert Sugden is one of Emmerdale's most popular yet complicated characters on the ITV soap.
He’s been both a manipulative killer and a cut-throat businessman played by four actors, Richard Smith, Christopher Smith, Karl Davies and Ryan Hawley since being born in 1986.
However Ryan Hawley, who joined in 2014, has been the biggest hit with viewers.
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It's been eight months since current Robert was sent to prison for 14 years for the murder of rapist Lee Posner and disappeared off screens.
We took a look at where all the actors who used to play the scheming murderer now and what are they up to.
Richard Smith (1986–1989)
The truly original Robert Sugden was played by a baby called Richard Smith.
For three years he gurgled and screamed during scenes with his on-screen parents and played the part of a small child to perfection.
Despite his success on the ITV hit soap Richard never returned to acting after leaving the show.
Christopher Smith (1989–2001)
The Dales troublemaker was played by Christopher Smith from 1989 to 2001.
The star's exit from the role was the most dramatic thing that happened at the time.
In September 2001, Smith sued Yorkshire Television for unfair dismissal from his part as Robert, which was down to producers wanting an older actor for more adult storylines.
In 2020 Christopher jetted off to live in Los Angeles and worked as a producer on AMC talk show Talking Dead.
It is unknown if he is still in America and working on the talk show.
Karl Davies (2001–2009)
Robert's always been a bad lad, with much of his bitterness stemming from his resentment of adoptive brother Andy.
That jealousy took on new heights while Karl Davies was in the role, between 2001 and 2009.
It was while he was in the role that Robert stole Andy's childhood sweetheart Katie Addyman from under his nose and bedded the mother of his child, Debbie Dingle.
After Karl bid farewell to the Dales he went on to star in ITV series Kingdom, appeared in three episodes of Game of Thrones and plays Sarah Lancashire's character's son Daniel Cawood in BBC drama Happy Valley.
More recently he appeared in Call the Midwife and the critically acclaimed drama Chernobyl.
Ryan Hawley (2014–2019)
Ryan quickly became a fan favourite when he joined the ITV soap as Robert and was involved in a number of historic storylines.
Robert came out as bisexual and got married three times - once to millionaire heiress Chrissie White and twice to mechanic Aaron Dingle.
He also killed two people - Katie Sugden and Lee Posner and became so scheming and duplicitous that he would stop at nothing to trick people out of their money.
Since leaving Emmerdale Ryan's career was fairly quiet however he recently left viewers shocked as he looked unrecognisable as he landed his first TV role since leaving the ITV soap.
The star appeared as a guest in BBC’s hit show Silent Witness and played Michael Robson in the penultimate episode of series 24 called Matters of Life and Death.
He certainly looks worlds away from his Emmerdale character, having grown his hair long for the part.
This comes after it was announced Ryan would be leaving the soap in June 2019 to pursue other projects.
At the time, an ITV source told The Sun: “Emmerdale fans have loved every minute of Robron’s story, and what Ryan has brought to playing Robert.
“But he has decided to take a break from the show for the foreseeable future and try other projects.”
He faced a very dramatic exit as his character was sent to prison for life for murdering Lee Posner.
Away from his acting life he recently welcomed a baby with his wife Daisy Prestes de Oliviera.
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