Bernice Thomas was very keen to meet her long lost sister and on Wednesday January 10th the moment she had longed for came when Nicola arrived in Emmerdale.
Unlike Bernice, Nicola always knew she had a sister because their dad Rodney had always been straight with her. But because Bernice's mother Diane had kept Bernice's whereabouts a secret, they had never been able to track her down before.

Nicola was very apprehensive about meeting Bernice. Her main fear was the fact that she was married to a vicar. Because of this she made a natural assumption about what she might be like, and thought Bernice would think she was a little bit too wild.
Nicola was so nervous, she sat at the village bus stop for ages, too scared to move.
But fortunately for Nicola they hit it off straight away after they got over their nerves.

January 16th was a devastating day for Angie Reynolds when she found out about her husband Sean's affair with Tara.

Angie had struggled to pick up the pieces of her shattered life with what little dignity she has left. But events on January 23rd made the usually placid policewoman reveal a previously unseen side to her personality.
When Angie found out that, not only has scheming Lady Tara wrecked her marriage to Sean, but has also left her son Marc brokenhearted after stringing him along, it's the final straw - and she springs into action.
Angie realises that Tara has been playing games with her family all along, so she goes to find Tara, and there's a showdown in The Woolpack when she unleashes her pent-up rage on her arch-enemy.
And Tara, thinking that Angie's profession won't let her go too far, is in for a shock.This time it's personal. Angie knows that as a policewoman she's supposed to be a role model in public, but she can't help herself. When she sees Tara, she hits her - in front of everyone!
Of course, this latest drama is diverting attention away from the real problem - that Angie and Sean's once-strong marriage has fallen apart.
All the stuff with the Dingles and the crash drove a wedge between them. They were once a very passionate pair, and in the past, however far apart they may have grown, they've always managed to sort things out. But with the revelation of Sean's affair, Angie's realised that this is much more than a bad patch.

Obviously Angie is devastated by Sean's affair, but it's compounded by the fact it's with Tara, a woman Sean has always made out he hates. So to find out she's who he's betrayed her with is a real body blow. Then there's also Angie's anger at Sean for letting her tell him about her attraction to someone (though she didn't tell Sean it was Cain) He exploded with anger, when all along he was betraying her with Tara.

She wrongly assumes that Cain has been drinking.
Lisa rushed her daughter to the hospital, where Belle underwent a scan which showed she has a fractured skull, but there is no serious damage. With her daughter's life out of the danger zone, Lisa's horror turns to fury.
She was angry with Cain and was also feeling very guilty about leaving Belle with him. Later Emily finds the picture Cain and Belle had drawn together, while Lisa and Zak see Cain playing with Belle in the hospital. Watching them together made Lisa realise that Cain would never deliberately put Belle in danger - and she knew she has some apologising to do.

Relations between Frankie, Scott and Pollard reached an all time low on January 26th when Frankie was called out to fix Pollards car. She was exasperated to discover that he has simply run out of petrol, but when he began to have a go at her, she deliberately disabled the car and left him stranded. She later left the village.

Following Joe Fischer's sham marriage to Tricia Stokes, thing's weren't as easy between Joe and his partner Jason Kirk - a situation not helped by Jason's jealousy over Joe's friendship with his old mate Gareth. On January 31st things got worse when Jason organised a party for Joe's birthday. When Gareth turned up unexpectedly, and started singing Joes praises to Jason, the jealous boyfriend was less than pleased. Concerned about Jason, Paddy Kirk intervened and argues with Joe - before taking matters into his own hands and throwing Garath out. A horrified Joe turned his anger on Jason and the pair argued furiously. Joe packed his bags and headed back to Australia.

Andy is just really, really down. Everything is spiralling out of his control, and he's just clinging to anything and the only person who is listening to him is Cain. As their unusual friendship blossomed, Andy seized the opportunity to tell Cain the truth about what happened that fateful night.

He confesses all to Cain, but straight away he wonders if he's made a mistake. He got hysterical and Cain grabed him to try and calm him down - assuring Andy that he will keep his secret.

Andy felt like he has been so let down by everyone. He felt let down by Kathy Glover, he was not getting on with his brother, Robert, and wais dad is in prison. He had always been very close to Jack but now there is nobody there for him. He sees Cain as a friend, he trusts him and looks up to him like a big brother.

Right from the start, Jack has instilled into Andy the importance of keeping the truth between the two of them. He wanted to tell someone because he has bottled it up inside him for so long. To Andy, it doesn't seem right that Jack was in prison and might get sent down for 20 years. He wanted to confess and take the blame, but he had been told not to.

Emily talked to the man, Ed Wills, and although it isn't love at first sight, they seem to have a bond - so much so, that when they met for a date, it's enough for her to forget a Dingle party.

Emily got engrossed in conversation and missed the party, which leads her to lying - something she's not used to doing!

However, the white lie isn't the main thing on her mind. Ed kisses Emily goodbye on the cheek, and it stirred something inside her. She hadn't felt like that about anyone since Butch. But when Emily returned home, she realises that neither she or Ed has the other's phone number.

Zoë loathes, detests and despises Charity - she dislikes her as much as she did her stepmother, Kim Tate. She doesn't trust Charity as far as she could throw her - she thinks she's scheming and manipulative.

Monday 19th March saw the start of Jack Sugdens trial for the murder of his wife Sarah.
Jack was led into court, the amount of Press attention was huge. Richie Carter was questioned by the prosecution, and told the court that Jack stopped him going into the barn to save Sarah. He also lied when he said he saw Jack light the fire.
The next day Angie Reynolds gave evidence, saying that Sarah was thinking of going back to Jack but that she'd warned her of his violent behaviour. Diane admited reluctantly that Jack told her the farm was worth more on paper and later Jack took the stand and denied killing Sarah.
Robert gave evidence and admited that Jack could have been in the barn. Andy told them he was upstairs when he heard the bang and Jack was downstairs, then panics, shouts at the court and Jack, and runs out of courtroom. Convinced he's ruined everything, Andy sneaks out to Richie's, who wakes to find Andy standing over him with a crowbar. He cracks and admits he started the fire.

The next day the prosecution gave Andy a tough time and Jack thought about changeing his plea, but Richie shouted from the gallery that he has more to say. Taking the stand again, he said he's no longer certain he saw Jack start the fire.

On Friday 23rd March The jury delived their verdict, Jack is not guilty. Relieved and overwhelmed, he returns to the farm. Celebrations take place in the Woolpack, but everyone was disappointed that Jack didn't go because he wanted to spend the night with his children.

When Paddy - who has been wise to Gloria's strange behaviour for a while heard about the candlestick theft, he confronts his empoyee and demands an explanation. Unable to continue her charade any longer, Gloria believes she had no way out. Everything has come to a head and she felt trapped in a corner.

In a heartbreaking attempt to end all her problems, Gloria swallowed a bottle of tablets. But by a stroke of luck, she was discovered by Pollard when he arrives at her home to collect her for a lunch date, and finds her unconscious.

Gloria come round in hospital to find Ashley at her bedside, and, mistakenly, believes him to have been the one who saved her. When Ashley explains otherwise, Gloria was pleasantly surprised. She wouldn't have thought of Pollard as her knight in shining armour, but she sees a side of him that wasn't apparent before.
It soon becomes clear that trying to kill herself wasn't the answer and her friends rallied round her. She then realised she should have turned to them in the first place and is very happy to have the chance to accept their offers of help. It felt good to have off-loaded the guilt she was harbouring."

When she and Ashley arrive at the hospital for the scan, they don't even consider the possibility that something could be wrong - they're too busy chatting about how happy they are. But when the nurse performing the scan hurries off to fetch a doctor, Bernice soon realises that something is very wrong, and it's not long before her worst fears are confirmed.

Bernice had what is called a missed miscarriage - she probably miscarried a few days earlier, but the baby hasn't come away properly yet, which is why she hadn't realised. At first she thinks they've made a mistake, and she goes into denial. But when she has to go back to hospital the next day for an operation to remove the baby, it starts to sink in.
While Ashley uses his faith in God to cope with their loss, Bernice completely withdraws into herself, refusing to talk about the experience with anyone - even her husband.

She's completely numb - she can't even cry. Nothing Ashley can say to her is right - she's taking all of her anger out on him. Ashley had his own grief to deal with, but everyone focused on Bernice's pain, and forgots about how it may be affecting the man. If ever Bernice needed a friend, it was then. But when Tricia arrived on her doorstep bearing flowers to make amends - unaware of what's happened - Bernice's father, Rodney, sends her away, assuming she'll cause Bernice more pain.
As it is, she doesn't even see it's Tricia at the door - all she sees are the flowers, and she thinks, 'Oh God, someone's bringing me flowers because my baby died.
Tricia left the village and headed for London.

Later Edna Birch visits Bernice and proves to be a surprising comfort in her hour of need. Her wise words seemed to unlock the emotion that Bernice has bottled up since losing the baby.