Scott Windsor

Scott Windsor (né Dawson) was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. From 1993-1996 Scott Windsor was played by Toby Cockerell. In 1996 Scott left Emmedale to join the army and when he returned in 1998, Ben Freeman took over the role and played Scott until early 2007.

In early 2007, Freeman left because of a court case, Scott is expected to return but it has not been confirmed of his return as of yet to the show, he has been absent for the majority of 2007. On the 16 December 2007 Digital Spy confirmed that Ben Freeman had been axed from Emmerdale.[1]. However, the ITV website claims that Freeman had simply not renewed his contract, for practical reasons. His contract was due to expire at the end of 2007.

1 Arrival and recasting
2 Affair with Kelly
3 Scott and Zoe
4 Violent Scott
5 Dawn's death
6 Departure
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Arrival and recasting

Scott is the son of Viv Hope and Reg Dawson. Reg deserted them when Scott was young and Viv remarried Vic Windsor, who adopted Scott. Scott has a half-sister Donna from Viv and Vic's marriage. He also has a stepsister Kelly. The Windsor family moved to the village in 1993. Scott's natural father Reg followed them to the village and took Viv and Shirley Turner hostage at gunpoint, accidentally killing Shirley before being shot dead himself.

Toby Cockerell as the original Scott.

Scott then got in with a bad crowd who forced him to steal from his family's post office and threatened his sisters. When Vic found out about the stealing he declared that Scott was 'no son of his' and Scott left to join the army. When he returned he was now played by another actor and had turned into a womaniser. He had been thrown out of the army for 'psychiatric reasons', but it was eventually revealed that this was because he was having an affair with a high-ranking officer's wife.

[edit] Affair with Kelly

Scott and Kelly were always close, but as they got older Scott began to develop romantic feelings for her. At the same time Kelly was retconned to be the daughter of Vic and his first wife rather than Vic and Viv's daughter and Scott's half-sister. The couple shared their first kiss on Christmas Day 1998, just as Vic was being murdered by Billy Hopwood in the post office. Scott claimed to be in love with Kelly and in 1999, as she prepared to marry Roy Glover, they began sleeping together. The stress of their affair took its toll on Kelly and after discovering she was pregnant she attempted to commit suicide in 2000, leaving letters that told the truth about what they’d done.

Scott burnt the evidence but the whole sordid truth was eventually revealed by Donna who announced it in the pub. With Kelly gone, Scott tried to resume a normal life - and started dating newcomer Chloe Atkinson.

[edit] Scott and Zoe

After just a few months dating, Chloe and Scott moved in together and, when their housemate Jason Kirk left, they were joined by builder Syd Woolfe. While Scott was clearly jealous of Syd, it was him - not Chloe - who cheated.

One night he drove Zoe Tate home and, in the grip of schizophrenia, she slept with him. The result was baby Jean Tate, whose paternity remained a mystery for months as Zoe could not remember how she got pregnant. Scott kept quiet about being the father and was horrified when Chloe became Jean's nanny. Scott decided to come clean to Zoe when Jean seriously injured in hospital. It turned out that Jean’s accident happened while Chloe was having sex with Syd behind Scott’s back instead of looking after Jean. A furious Chris Tate evicted all three of them.

Meanwhile Scott found himself under suspicion of raping Zoe who still could not remember sleeping with him. When the police decided not to press charges against Scott, Zoe's brother Chris launched a hate campaign against him, burning down his garage and having him beaten up before paying a stripper, Yolanda, to sleep with Scott and accuse him of rape. When Zoe found out what Chris had done, she offered to pay Yolanda to drop the charges if Scott signed away all his rights to baby Jean.

When Chris committed suicide, Scott was delighted and was one of the few people who believed his wife Charity's story that Chris had framed her for his murder. With Chris gone Scott got closer to Zoe and they began parenting little Jean together. With Scott now working at Home Farm, Zoe began relying on him more and more and in her loneliness, ended up in a clinch with him - despite the fact she was a lesbian. Although the duo tried to have a romantic relationship, Zoe just wasn't attracted to Scott and ended it.

[edit] Violent Scott

Alone again, Scott began to get closer his new stepsister (since Viv had remarried), Dawn Woods. She left her husband, stroke victim Terry and soon started dating Scott.

However, when convicted rapist Frank Bernard Hartbourne, Pearl Ladderbanks' estranged son came to the village, Scott - due to a misunderstanding about his sister Donna (Frank had only tried to see if Donna was hurt when she crashed her Scooter) - beat him up badly. Facing a criminal charge, Scott forced Dawn to lie for him - only to get his comeuppance a few days later when she retracted her statement. Scott later received a twelve month suspended sentence.

After some time apart, Scott and Dawn rekindled their relationship but Scott wasn’t too bothered about her. When he discovered Zoe had planned to move abroad and take his daughter with her, Scott reacted very badly.

Scott was delighted when Zoe made him an offer to go with them and thought nothing of leaving Dawn behind. But just as it looked like Scott was about to get what he’d always wanted, Zoe caught on to Scott and his mother Viv's plot to keep her and Jean from leaving.

When Scott asked Zoe to marry him, she told him she would 'rather stick needles in her eyes'. Scott then tried to rape Zoe for real and Zoe stabbed him with a needle of animal anesthetic in self-defence. She then stabbed him a second time while he lay helpless on the floor. Scott was rescued by Zoe's business partner Paddy Kirk, but was left fighting for his life. Scott recovered from his ordeal but was determined to bring Zoe down. He relished the chance of taking her to court and very nearly got her sent down for attempted murder. However, his bullying of witness Paddy led him to change his statement and Zoe was acquitted. Scott was incensed and took Zoe, her nephew Joseph and employee Callum hostage at gunpoint and threatened to kill all of them, including Jean. Viv reminded him of what had happened to his natural father as well as Vic and managed to persuade him to let Zoe leave with the children.

Scott then attacked Paddy and in the process hit Dawn, while she and Marlon Dingle were trying to break up the fight. Scott was sentenced to four months imprisonment after pleading guilty to the assault. Kelly (who had returned when Scott was hospitalised) was the only member of his family who attended court with him. Scott only served half his sentence due to good behaviour.

[edit] Dawn's death

When he was released, Scott was horrified to discover Dawn was now dating local good guy Danny Daggert. Determined to get her back, Scott deliberately schemed to split them up. It worked temporarily, but Dawn didn’t want Scott back and insisted he moved out or she would report him to the police for punching Danny.

Emasculated, Scott was forced to back down and vowed to avenge himself. Scott took his time but he found a way to hurt Dawn. Dawn had been doing all sorts of odd jobs to keep afloat, so Scott reported her for benefit fraud. When Dawn was arrested and charged, everyone turned their back on Scott – with Viv being particularly horrified by his behaviour.

Thrown out of house and home, Scott’s only consolation was when Dawn got sent down for six weeks. When she was released, Scott continued to be spiteful towards her. It was clear he would do anything to get at Dawn still, however petty.

Dawn died on 13 July 2006 from the injuries she received in the Kings River Showhome explosion, Scott felt very guilty for the way he had treated her in the last months of her life, but blamed her brother, his stepbrother Jamie Hope for not doing more to save her.

[edit] Departure

After becoming involved with his teenage apprentice, Debbie Dingle, Scott then left the village to stay with an old army mate down in London, leaving the garage in the hands of Debbie. On January 4, 2008, Scott phoned Viv and told her he would not be coming back and he was putting Tug Ghyll up for sale.

This was because actor Ben Freeman was accused of rape whilst on holiday and suspended pending proceedings. His contract with the show has now expired and has not been renewed. Scott has rarely been mentioned on-screen since his departure.