END OF AN ERA FOR DIANE SUGDEN

Tonight's episode (29th October) will see the end of an era for Emmerdale’s Elizabeth Estensen who first arrived to the Yorkshire village of Emmerdale back in 1999 as Diane Blackstock.

I was a little girl when Diane Sugden first arrived but I have some extremely fond memories of the character and one thing I will always remember Diane for is her relationship with Jack Sugden which many visitors like myself enjoyed their journey, alongside many other storyline that have seen the character on a rollercoaster journey with a cancer diagnosis, the revelation of her husband at the time, Rodney Blackstock fathering her sister, Val's son, one thing I'll always remember is her scenes with the older cast members eg Alan Turner, Betty and Edna, and of course, Eric Pollard, being held hostage in The Woolpack, sleeping with Eric Pollard whilst he was married to her sister, Val, the helicopter crash in 2014 that killed her beloved sister, Diane running The Woolpack, along with many more storylines including her current one with wanting to move to Portugal for a new life (refusing to put a label on old with the move) along with her granddaughter, Gabby Thomas who during yesterday's (28th October) gave birth to her great grandson which I have to say gave us one of my recent favourite scenes as it reminded me so much of my own grandmother - there is something so magical and warm about Elizabeth Estensen and Rosie Bentham's scenes.

Here I am going to talk about two of my favourite things from Elizabeth's time as Diane Sugden with one being her relationship with her beloved Jack Sugden's children, Andy, Robert, and Victoria Barton through supporting Andy's relationship with Katie, Robert revealing his sexuality and through his relationship with his ex-husband, Aaron Dingle which I have to say featured a rollercoaster of emotions and support - those episodes of the wedding where emotional ones, however, my favourite is her relationship with Victoria as Diane has been the mother figure in her life, I will really miss the Diane/ Victoria dynamic - I can't begin to imagine how hard and sad it must have been for Elizabeth and Isabel Hodgins to film their final scene together and when Elizabeth told Isabel she was leaving the show.

The other thing I have loved about Diane Sugden over the years is the love she has for her daughter, Bernice Blackstock and the love she had for her beloved sister, Val Pollard there was something so special and unique about the way Elizabeth and Charlie Hardwick came across on screen giving another fantastic layer to the characterisation for Val and Diane. One scene that comes to my mind is when Val was trapped in the mirror before she died where they apologised and decided to bury the hatchet leading to some wonderfully emotional scenes.

Final note based on last nights episodes, I discovered how much I love the Diane/ Bernice/ Gabby dynamic as all three actresses work so incredibly well together. Rosie Bentham and Samantha Giles were so lucky to have worked with a legend like Elizabeth Estensen.

Ever since it was announced that Elizabeth Estensen was retiring my heart sunk, but I also wish her the very best and enjoys every single moment she has being what she loves.

Thank you, Elizabeth Estensen for a brilliant 20 years on Emmerdale.

You can watch Elizabeth Estensen final scenes as Diane Sugden tonight on Emmerdale at 7pm on ITV.