| Linda Fowler | |||||||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Tonicha Jeronimo | ||||||||||
| Created by | Mervyn Watson | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Mervyn Watson | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1994–97 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | 4 August 1994 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | 21 October 1997 | ||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Date of birth | 5 March 1978 | ||||||||||
| Date of death | 16 October 1997 | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Veterinarian Receptionist | ||||||||||
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Linda Jane Fowler (née Glover) is a fictional character that appeared in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Tonicha Jeronimo, from 1994 to 1997. It was reported on May 6, 1997, that Tonicha had quit the rural soap, just after three years. The 19-year-old actress who played pregnant Linda Fowler at the time, had told bosses she wanted to leave the soap later in that year. The character was killed off in a car crash in October 1997, as part of the show's "25th Anniversary".
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Tonicha Jeronimo is a far cry from Linda Fowler, the Emmerdale character she played, who coped with endless traumas and speaks her mind. 'She's a really stroppy little cow,' for her own good, but she is passionate. When she has a crusade, she goes straight for it. She's not weak. She's really strong in a crisis.'
Tonicha Jeronimo wasn't very academic at all, but she had to work hard at her GCSEs, to get a grant to go to drama school when at the age of 15, she was accepted by the London Studio Centre. Then the part of Linda Glover in Emmerdale came up and she dropped nearly all her exams. Jeronimo's school was not very happy with her, but she came out with two GCSEs, in drama and food studies.
| “ | Education is important but if you get an opportunity to do something you have wanted to do all your life you take it you can go back to study later .'Emmerdale were taking a gamble, because I didn't have the experience. The other actors in the Glover family guided me through everything and I picked a lot of things up. For the first six months, I was terrible. I just didn't like myself. You have an image of yourself but, when you actually see yourself on screen, it's very hard to adjust. Once you make friends with what's on the television, you begin to concentrate on the real acting. I worked hard on my acting and it all came together.'
The story of Linda self-aborting her pregnancy by Danny Weir, using equipment from the veterinary surgery where she worked, after she discovered he was engaged to someone else, was a challenge for Tonicha. 'That storyline gave me the confidence to get better and better,' she says. 'I need a kick up the bum sometimes. That was a really emotional story to act. I had to try to imagine what it would be to like to go through that. I got loads of letters afterwards. A couple of girls had actually aborted their own babies and understood, saying, "I don't know how you were able to portray something like that." ' Then came Linda's romance with Biff, which culminated in their wedding. 'They're Emmerdale's sweethearts,' says Tonicha. 'I think they're together for life. The characters go perfectly well together. He puts up with her tantrums and she puts up with his stubbornness. |
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In May 1997 Tonicha Jeronimo announced her decision to leave Emmerdale after three years of grinding despair, one relentlessly miserable storyline after the other. Jeronimo's decision was a big headache for the show's bosses leaving them struggling to cope with yet another high-profile departure. Jeronimo leaving was a huge blow to the show, especially after the news that so many other cast members were on their way out. .[2] Jeronimo's dream role as vet's assistant Linda Glover had become a nightmare, wrecking her health and bringing the 20-year-old actress to the brink of a nervous breakdown. Linda's storylines were full of doom and gloom that she would go home after a day's filming and cry tears of frustration. After 12 months of non-stop screen trauma - which saw her character lose two babies her brother Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey) who was killed in a fire and share the agony of husband Biff as he faced the prospect of a life-threatening disease - Tonicha decided that she had finally had enough [...]
I was tearing my hair out," [...]. When Tonicha Jeronimo joined the ITV's hit farming soap as a naive 16-year-old schoolgirl in 1994 she was full of excitement. [...] It was the kind of break every aspiring actress would sell their soul for. `When I first started playing Linda, she was full of fun," she says. "Then I began dating Stuart Wade who plays Biff. "The bosses saw the chemistry between us and decided it would be good to transfer that to the screen, so they married us off. "But instead of letting us prove that some teenage marriages can survive, they made us argue all the time. "I know that it doesn't make for good viewing to have everybody happy but the number of problems Linda and Biff faced was totally unrealistic. Linda lost two babies, was sexually harassed by Biff's boss and refused to sleep with her husband because she was mourning her brother.[...] Overnight Linda had turned from an upbeat teenager into someone who was morose, depressed and dull.
Jeronimo later began to share similarities with her character,it however had a negative effect on her.[...] I was fed up with looking miserable and crying all the time on set and I'd go home and not be able to pull out of it. "I felt so depressed. I was being pulled down and started losing confidence in my ability. "I was very unhappy - and that manifested itself in my skin erupting in boils and spots all over my body. The more upset I got, the worse it became. I was so self-conscious that I didn't even want to go out. "I ended up with lumps and blisters everywhere and became very depressed." Tonicha's skin problems began after a particularly infuriating incident where she was ordered to change the colour of her hair. "I had had my hair cut into a short bob without asking permission first," says Tonicha. "It was silly of me not to ask first, but I only had a couple of inches taken off The next week Malandra Burrows who plays Kathy, had her hair cut in the exact same style. "Just afterward, Mervyn Watson Emmerdale's series producer told me I'd have to change my hair colour from blonde to brunette.[...]
Jeronimo asked why she had to change her hair, after Watson then told her that there were too many blondes in the show. He said I would have to change because Malandra was a long-standing cast member.
Jeronmimo was furious by having her hair dyed was the beginning of my skin problems.Jeronimo spent most of her teenage years suffering from anorexia nervosa. Rather than waiting until her current contract expired in December 1997 she decided to be honest with producer Mervyn Watson and handed in her notice straight away to give scriptwriters enough time to write her out. However her honesty backfired when the bosses decided to write her out two months early.[...] A few close friends on the set warned me not to tell Mervyn because I'd be written out much earlier than expected,' When I told Mervyn I didn't want to renew my contract in December, he was amazed. He told me not to make a rush decision and asked me what was wrong.
I told him I was fed up and exhausted and wanted a change. I could see from his face that he thought I was making a mistake."[...] Tonicha later asked for four days grace from her contract which expired on December 20 so that she could take on her new role as Cinderella in pantomime in Sunderland over Christmas. Jeronimo was suddenly informed that she would only be required until September 2. [...] I'm not sure why they did it. But knowing how penny-pinching they are, it was probably to save themselves six weeks' wages [...].
In August 1997 Jeronimo was devastated when she heard the news that Diana, Princess of Wales had died in a car crash. Jeronimo struggled to come to terms with the stark newsflash that final Sunday of August, a terrible realisation dawned on her that the car crash in which would see her characters deimise was due to be filmed in just a couple of days' time. With the nation in a state of raw grief, Jeronimo felt it would be a terrible mistake to film scenes that closely mirrored the manner of Diana's death so soon after the tragedy. Jeronimo then rang bosses expecting to hear that the shoot had been re-scheduled. A couple of minutes later, she hung up, stunned and completely shell- shocked at his response.
[...] The crash scenes were due to be shot between Diana's death and her funeral. "I was pretty shaken up by Diana's death and naturally assumed that we would postpone filming until after her funeral, out of respect as much as anything I was left speechless when they decided not to. I was told we were going to ignore it and carry on as before. I couldn't believe my ears. [..] Fans of Emmerdale came down to watch scenes being filmed, and with feelings running high, it seemed incredibly poor taste just to carry on regardless,but no one seemed to care that the timing was bad. They were determined to go ahead and Linda's funeral was filmed just a few days before Diana was buried and the fans were furious. A lot of them wrote in saying it was insensitive and disrespectful to have gone ahead.
[...] "There was a very strong feeling in the community and among the fans that we should have waited until afterwards." [...] The incident confirmed Jeronimo's feelings that after three-and-a-half years with the soap, her decision to leave had been the right one. [...] "The first two years were very enjoyable, but the last 12 months were hellish," [...] Jeronimo's last episode was the most dramatic part of Emmerdale's 25th-Anniversary episode, yet my press agent had to fight to get me on the cover of one magazine.
[...] "There was a big photo-shoot to mark the anniversary, and all the main female members of cast were asked to take part. Jane Cameron, who played the Tates' nanny, was also leaving the show but she was still asked. No one asked me - even though Linda's death was the climax of the anniversary special. The reason given to me by our press office was that the magazine didn't want a dead person in the pictures, which I found very brutal. "As soon as it was announced that I was leaving the show, Stuart Wade started getting invitations to work functions addressed just to him, even though everyone knows we live together. "[...] .[3]
Tonicha believes the decision to kill Linda off on the soap's 25th anniversary was her punishment for daring to leave. [...] They don't seem to realise that they forced me into it by making Linda so downbeat BUT it was the sly way they went about it that hurt the most. "I heard that I was being killed off in a car crash two months early from other cast members. The bosses didn't even have the grace to tell me first,practically everyone but me knew all about it. "It was humiliating. Jeronimo was met by one of the writers at a party he told her, [...] `We didn't want you to die. It was all down to the big bosses.' Watson told Jeronimo that it was the writers' idea that Linda should be killed. [...] There were so many ways they could have written me out - but they wanted to get rid of me for good to teach me a lesson. "There was a feeling that I had got too big for my boots. The younger you are, the more they try to control you. But they came up against an immovable object when they met me. I think they expected me to be like Linda. [...] downtrodden and insignificant, but they got it wrong. There was also resentment and jealousy from some members of the cast and crew that I had walked into a soap role straight from school. "I think some of them feel that I will learn what it is like in the big wide world now that I have left."
On Jeronimo's last day of filming, Tonicha threw a farewell party at a restaurant near the soap's studios in Leeds. Many of the cast attended and Mervyn gave a brief farewell speech but even that packed a final punch. "He gave the same speech - word for word -- to Jane Cameron, who played the Tates' nanny, at her leaving party two weeks later," says Tonicha with a sigh. "Only our names were different. It was another way of showing how little we mattered."[...] .[4]
Linda arrived in Emmerdale with the rest of her family in 1994. She worked at the vets as a receptionist despite her father's objections when he found out that Zoe Tate was a lesbian.
Before finding true love with Biff Fowler, she had a relationship with Danny Weir, leaving her pregnant. Linda and Biff got married on December 26, 1996, the same day her brother Dave was killed in a fire whilst trying to save James Tate from dying in the blaze.
In 1997 Linda found out she was pregnant after sleeping with Danny and self-aborted, using drugs from the vets. This put her on the critical list at the hospital. She made a full recovery but lost the baby.
Linda was shocked to find a newborn baby girl in a box outside Zoe Tate's veterinary surgery. Two days later, after being admitted to hospital for haemorrhaging, 13-year-old Emma Cairns admitted to being the mother. The baby made Linda broody. When Biff's father, Ron Hudson, died of Huntington disease and Linda told Biff that she could be pregnant, Biff admitted that his father's disease could be hereditary. Biff's tests for Huntington's disease came back negative. However, heartbreak came when Linda miscarried.
On October 16, 1997 to mark Emmerdale's 25th Anniversary, Linda and other guests were invited to Kim Tate and Steve Marchant's engagement party. Linda was excited about the party at Home Farm. She had even laid her dress out. Biff would rather had gone to the Woolpackers event at the wine bar; he asked how much Linda's dress cost and was horrified to hear that she had spent £120 on it, and they rowed about it. Linda later arrived at the party, squashed in her mini, with the rest of her family. Biff complained to Steve that he was blocking the parking with his Porsche. He gave Linda the keys so she could move it. Linda was eager to dance as soon as she arrived at the party. Biff was not drinking because he was driving. Biff was jealous when Linda waved at Alex as they had lunch that day, and he was still bitter towards Kim. Meanwhile Linda was still dancing and drinking, she even coped, spending time with Chris Tate. When he talked to her, Biff looked on with rage.
Then Kim slipped into the bathroom so as not to be noticed she found Alex in there snorting cocaine. Kim was furious with Alex as she disapproved of drugs, and the fact that Alex spent his money on them. She later decided to cause some trouble and told Alex to go off with Linda for some fun, which Kim would later regret. She watched as Biff looked on while Alex asked Linda to dance. Linda and Alex were enjoying themselves so Tara decided to ask Biff to dance, but he snubbed her and barged through Alex and Linda. Alex then suggested that they go outside. Kim watched them disappear. Linda then suggested to Alex that they go for a drive in Steve's porsche, because she has still got the keys. Alex agreeed to drive. Kim saw them leave Linda then suggested to Alex that they go for a drive.
Kim smugly told Biff that Linda had gone off with Alex and that he is "a bit of a lad". Biff rushed off. Linda was talking to Alex about Biff. He then pulled over in the car. Biff raced off in the mini. Alex got his cocaine out. Linda was shocked that Alex has taken some drugs and is driving again. He started to touch Linda, but she did not want him to and told him to stop. They then had a fight and Linda screamed just before Alex crashed the car into a tree. Alex was conscious after the crash. He saw that Linda was badly injured and moved her over into the driving seat, kissed her and ran off leaving Linda there to die. She was later pronounced dead on October 21. Biff was trying to wake Linda; Kathy & Doug have stopped their car to help; Doug phoned for an ambulance using his mobile. Alex had sneaked back to Home Farm. The party was still going on. Tara found Alex washing his face in the bathroom at Home Farm, when Linda was taken away in an ambulance.
Biff had been breathalysed and was going to drive himself to the hospital as the Glovers left the party, Kim was furious with Alex she told Tara that she caught him taking cocaine. Alex claimed that he left Linda in a layby and that she drove off at speed. They all decide to stick to this story to protect the name of the business.
Linda was brought into hospital and was taken straight to the resuscitation room. Biff arrived moments later and was told that he cannot see Linda; the doctor asks about Linda's parents, Ned and Jan, who have arrived home and are in a frisky mood. They think that Biff and Linda must have gone off somewhere and are about to go up to bed when Biff phoned them from the hospital. Biff was feeling bad about the row he and Linda had at the party. He regretted his jealousy. Kathy and Doug tried to comfort him, but Biff blamed Kim as well for winding him up so that he chased after Linda and Alex. Tara was hurt by Alex's behaviour, but felt even worse when he tells her what really happened with Linda. Biff is told the terrible news that Linda has died from uncontrollable internal bleeding caused by a fractured pelvis and an ruptured spleen. Biff is shocked, he cries as he looks at Linda's body. He kissed her and told her that he will always love her.
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