Robert Sugden

Robert Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. The character originally appeared on the show regularly between 22 April 1986 and 3 October 2005. During that time he was first played as a baby by Richard Smith between 1986 and 1989 before the role was taken over by Christopher Smith from 1989 until 2001. In 2001, Karl Davies took over the role in order for the character to become involved in more adult storylines, as he grew older. Davies briefly reprised his role as Robert for one episode, airing on 10 February 2009, when he returned for the funeral of his father and Emmerdale's longest-running character, Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby). The character returned on 23 October 2014, with actor Ryan Hawley taking over the role. Robert made his return to the show on 28 May 2025. During his first stint, Robert has embarked on a longstanding feud with his adoptive brother Andy Sugden (Kelvin Fletcher) after discovering he started the fire that killed their mother Sarah Sugden (Alyson Spiro). Their rivalry led to the events of Robert having an affair with Andy's wife Katie Sugden (Sammy Winward), whom he later cheated on by sleeping with her rival Sadie King (Patsy Kensit), and culminated with him causing the tragic death of Max King (Charlie Kemp) after the pair tried to kill each other by running the other down in their own vehicle. Robert subsequently left the village to avoid going to prison for Max's death, but came back briefly for Jack's funeral in February 2009. The character returned to the series on 23 October 2014, and became the show's main antagonist throughout 2015. During that year, Robert had an affair with Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller), which led to the events of Robert accidentally killing Katie on...