Ashley Thomas
| Ashley Thomas | |||||||||||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | John Middleton | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1996–2017 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 5 December 1996 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 2017 | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Mervyn Watson | ||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular (departing) | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Vicar Barman Farmer Curate Retired |
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| Home | Mulberry Cottage | ||||||||||||||
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| Father | Sandy Thomas |
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| Mother | Dorothy Thomas |
| Brothers | Luke Thomas |
| Wife | (2000–2004) Laurel Potts (2005–2013, 2016–) |
| Sons | Arthur Thomas |
| Daughters |
Gabby Thomas Dotty Thomas |
| Nieces | Jasmine Thomas |
Ashley Michael Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, played by John Middleton. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 5 December 1996. It was announced on 22 October 2015 that Middleton would be departing as Ashley at the end of his contract after the character was diagnosed with vascular dementia in the episode aired on that day. The contract was later extended in order for the storyline to be extended. In November 2016, it was announced that Emmerdale would air a special episode featuring Ashley's point of view to "give people an insight into how ordinary, day-to-day experiences can become disorientating and distressing when refracted through the lens of dementia." The episode aired on 20 December 2016. After Middleton's contract ends in around March 2017, Ashley will be killed-off in Spring 2017, ending his year and a half dementia storyline and twenty one years on Emmerdale.
Ashley's storylines have included his marriage to Bernice Blackstock (Samantha Giles) and the birth of their daughter Gabby, as well as his second marriage to Laurel Potts (Charlotte Bellamy) and the birth of their son Arthur, as part of a highly publicised cot death storyline in which Laurel and Ashley's baby son dies. It later transpires that their biological child is still alive as the babies were accidentally swapped at birth. Other storylines have included abusing his elderly father Sandy (Freddie Jones), being accidentally run over by Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) which results in his epilepsy, and being diagnosed with dementia. Ashley was involved in the October 2016 week of episodes "No Return Week", which lead to the death of James Barton (Bill Ward).
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