Steph Forsythe

Mary Stephanie "Steph" Forsythe (née Turner, previously Stokes) was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Lorraine Chase.

[edit] About Steph

Steph was established as the village bully for her violent and threatening behaviour. The ex-con first arrived at her daughter Tricia’s engagement party in 2002 and hit her new fiancé Marlon Dingle – and then ended up kissing him the night before the wedding. And Marlon wasn’t the first of Tricia’s boyfriends that Steph took a shine to.

After stealing an earlier boyfriend, she'd not spoken to her daughter in years. Tricia wanted to try again with Steph – especially when she decided to stay in Emmerdale.

Now that she had decided to put down some roots, Steph began working for Rodney Blackstock at the Antiques Barn. Her fantastic selling skills and keen eye for a bargain made Steph indispensable to the business. But when she spotted some priceless porcelain and tried to do a runner to France with it, Rodney caught her and she was forced to abandon her dreams.

Despite double-crossing him, Steph got close to Rodney again and the two even got engaged. But it wasn’t Rodney’s love and companionship she was after, Steph’s one true love is money! When she discovered Rodney was not quite as flush as she thought, Steph jilted him and moved in with father Alan at the B&B.

A few weeks later Steph was delighted when her best friend “Fat” Shelly Williams arrived. The two women immediately started making plans to open a salon in the village and got Alan to shell out for their business. By this time Steph was the coowner of the local factory with Eric Pollard, however the factory was soon closed and steph found herself in trouble with the law following her making counterfeit clothes in the factory.

However, relations between Steph and her father reach an all time low over the next few months. In 2004 things got even worse for Steph when Tricia was killed during the freak storm at New Year and she plunged into a deep depression. Shelly was a great source of comfort to both Steph and Alan as they came to terms with losing Tricia and soon she had begun a relationship with Steph’s father.

When she discovered what was going on, Steph was absolutely horrified and made it clear she would not accept them as a couple. But Alan and Shelly continued to see each other and planned to go away to Spain to start a new life together. Faced with being deserted by the two people closest to her and losing her father's inheritance, Steph hatched a plan to split them up by spreading a vicious rumour that Shelly was a gold digger.

Her plot worked and Shelly left Alan behind.Soon after during a fight on the stairs, Alan declared that he wished Steph had died instead of Tricia and in a moment of anger Steph pushed Alan down the stairs and he ended up an invalid and he had lost his memory of how he had fallen down the stairs due to the knock on the head.

In control of everything, Steph started medicating Alan to keep him manageable and when Shelly came to visit Steph locked her in the cellar before disposing of her at night. However alan was aware that Steph was up to no good and was aware that Shelley had called to the house. When Steph’s treachery was revealed, Steph made an attempt to make a quick sale on the b+b and do a runner, however when this failed she almost drove off the local quarry with her father but had a change of heart at the last moment. The villagers were deeply shocked. And so was Steph when she was arrested for Shelly’s murder. Steph found herself alienated by the villagers and braded 'psycho Steph'. However she always found friendship and support in Vivar Ashley Thomas and Ethan.

However, it emerged that Steph didn’t kill her when she arrives back in Emmerdale to attend her own memorial service despite Steph thinking she had killed her due to her mental illness! Alan and Shelly tried to rekindle their relationship but Alan was unable to grant his partner’s wish that he cuts all ties with Steph.

When Shelly leaves, Steph follows her and tries to convince her to return to Alan. The two women had a confrontation on a ferry in March 2005, which resulted in Shelly falling overboard. Making a split second decision, Steph decided not to raise the alarm and rescue Shelly and threw her suitcase overboard.

Life seemed to settle for Steph when she returned back from the disastrous ferry journey keeping quiet about Shelly's death. And when new doctor Adam Forsythe arrived to live at the B&B, romance began to blossom. Having fallen in love for the first time, Steph started to open up about her troubled childhood and confessed that her older brother Terence had sexually abused her as a child. She also confessed about her part in Shelly's disappearance but to her surprise Adam remained calm and silent.

Adam convinced Steph that she needed to let her father Alan know about this – especially as he’d since decided to track down his lost son. Refusing to believe her, Alan devastated Steph and when Terence arrived in Emmerdale things got even worse.

The violent alcoholic started to terrorize his sister and she began to fall apart – much to Adam’s horror. But Terence’s reign as Alan’s favourite child was about to come to an end when he got drunk and confessed Steph was telling the truth.

He left Emmerdale but continued to haunt Steph and Adam. When the doctor came home to find Terence in the B&B, a violent struggle ensued and Adam ended up killing the twisted man and buried the body in the local woods. Steph was absolutely traumatized and, in a bid to keep her quiet, Adam took her away to Barbados.

When they got back, Alan was stunned to hear Steph and Adam had got married abroad. However, there was no domestic bliss in this household. Steph discovered Adam was drugging her to keep her under control and decided enough was enough. She decided to confess to Alan that she’d murdered Terence and even took him to the place they’d buried him.

However, when they got there, Steph was horrified to realize that Adam had moved the body and was now claiming she was mentally ill. The relationship fell apart as Steph realized she’d married a cold, calculating man who was determined to keep her in line.

Her outrage at him saw her sectioned and it seems like Steph’s got a long road to travel before she can persuade everyone she’s telling the truth this time. However, with Alan on her side, and sceptical about Adam, it looked as if Steph had at least one ally. It was further revealed that prior to Terence's death he was blackmailing adam as adam was struck of the registar yet still practicising as a doctor illegally.

When Terence's body was discovered under the rubble of the Kings Show Home, Steph was arrested for his murder. The whole way through the trial Steph had contested her innonce but in a shock twist Shelly's suitcase was found on the day before the verdict. Steph knew that there was no way they would start a new trial against her for this, following the last time she was wrongly accused of her murder but in a bid of loyalty to her dad she instead confessed to Adam's murder in a bid to see some sort of justice done.

On Friday 10 November 2006, Steph was sentenced to life imprisonment when she confessed that she and Adam murdered her brother, Terence, even though it was just Adam who killed him. Adam would face further investigation about the case, but two days later he hung himself and subsequently died in his cell.

At the end of it all, Alan was proud of Steph and therefore she was finally happy in her departure.