Isabel Hodgins talks about some trying times ahead for Emmerdale’s Victoria Barton
Isabel Hodgins talks about the trying times ahead for her Emmerdale character, Victoria Barton
The challenges are coming thick and fast for Emmerdale’s Victoria Barton, née Sugden. Right now, her husband, Adam, is on the run after being wrongly accused of murdering Emma. There’s a couple of reasons why Victoria might be better off without him. First, Adam has been lying to her; second, Victoria has romantic interests elsewhere. Specifically with Matty, her husband’s brother and the son of Moira.
This of course gets complicated as Moira is actually Emma’s killer and she’s the very person who catches Victoria and Matty sharing a passionate kiss.
Both Matty and Victoria are left reeling when Moira blurts out that it was she and not Adam who is guilty of Emma’s murder. A furious Victoria now wants to take Moira down. First though, Victoria is determined to find her husband. She breaks into his office and starts rifling through the drawers. Later, Victoria’s brother Robert is alarmed to see the lock to the office broken and papers everywhere. When he spots an empty file named ‘Europe trips’, however, things start to make sense.
Aaron tries to hide his guilt when Robert tells Victoria that no one knows where Adam is. Of course, as viewers find out, Aaron does in fact know Adam’s whereabouts.
Victoria tells Robert she has hired a private investigator to find Adam. She is unfazed when Glen, the detective, advises her that tracking down Adam will be expensive. She transfers the first payment to him so he can start looking.
Later, Robert and Matty are floored when Aaron tells them Adam contacted him weeks ago and is currently in Budapest.
Glen, meanwhile, lies to Victoria and tells her he has located Adam in Portugal. He asks for £5,000. Matty is concerned and comes clean to Moira about knowing for a fact Adam isn’t in Portugal. He also manages to take Victoria’s envelope of cash, marked for Glen, out of her bag without her noticing. Meanwhile, Victoria finds herself in tricky circumstances when she meets up with Glen and searches for the cash in vain. Glen quickly loses his patience and Matty, Robert and Aaron are left frantic when they track Victoria down, but find her phone lying on the ground. Isabel Hodgins takes up the story.
It’s been a tough few weeks for Victoria hasn’t it, with the whole Matty and Moira situation?
Yeah, I think it really has been tough, because there’s been a bit a lot of frustration for Victoria. She liked Matty, he didn’t like her, then he starts to get a bit jealous of her. So, it all comes to a head and they get to kiss. It’s very exciting and the start of something.
But then Moira catches them, loses her temper and says what they’re doing is wrong. It really does go from one extreme to the other very quickly. Moira condemns Victoria for kissing her husband’s brother and confirms that Adam did not kill Emma. Victoria knows then that Adam and herself have been through so much for nothing.
What is she looking for when she breaks into the haulier’s yard?
I think she’s just looking for any clues. A good place to start would be where Adam was the day that he left. Yes, she makes a bit of a mess of it and takes files home and then becomes obsessed with rifling through them and finding something. But she just wants answers in any way, shape or form.
Her brother, Robert, tells her that no one knows where Adam is, but does she trust that anyone is genuinely on her side?
I don’t think she does. I think she’s got no one to trust, not even her own brother, because of his relationship with Aaron, Matty and Moira. So I think she feels lonely in all of this and the one person that she’d want to speak to is her husband, who’s on the run, accused of murder. It’s a very tricky time for her.
What does the private investigator say to her?
He says that Adam is in Portugal, so finally, Victoria has a place that she could fly to and be with him. When Glen, the PI, asks for five grand in return for Adam’s address, it’s a no-brainer: of course she’s going to go ahead with it.
What happens when she discovers the money to pay off the dodgy detective is gone?
She has to think fast. She tells Glen that she knows who has the money and they need to get it from him. But Glen intimidates her and it all turns a bit sinister when she realises the danger she is in, being alone with someone like that. It’s panic stations for Victoria.
How do you think Victoria will feel when she finds out that Aaron knows more about Adam’s wherabouts than he’s letting on?
I think she gets that Adam is Aaron’s best friend, but it’s a shock to find out that Aaron has absolutely no loyalty to her whatsoever, especially as they’ve known each other for such a long time.
Victoria is very alone now; is it fair to say she’s going to go a little bit off the rails?
Yes, she does. There’s a part of her that still loves Adam. But then, at the end of the day, Victoria is 24 years of age and knows that this is no life for her, missing this guy who has left her. So she’s trying to put herself out there.
I don’t really think she’s thinking about herself, or about the boys that may like her, whatever she’s done. She’s making bad decisions and she’s trying to justify her behaviour. But it’s only because she’s hurting. Does anybody think rationally when they’re heartbroken and has been betrayed by their loved ones? She needs to just ride the wave and not go off the rails!