Seth Armstrong
| Seth Armstrong | |||||||
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| Emmerdale character | |||||||
| Portrayed by | Stan Richards | ||||||
| Duration | 1978–2004 | ||||||
| First appearance | 16 May 1978 | ||||||
| Last appearance | 24 December 2004 | ||||||
| Introduced by | Michael Glynn (1978) Steve Frost (2004) |
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| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||
| Profile | |||||||
| Occupation | Gamekeeper (retired) | ||||||
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| Father | George Verney |
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| Wife | Meg Armstrong (1955–93) |
| Sons | Jimmy Armstrong Fred Armstrong |
Archibald Seth Armstrong is a long running fictional character in the ITV soap Emmerdale, played by Stan Richards from 1978 until 2004. The role of Seth began as a temporary "bit part", due to appear for just a few episodes, but proved so popular that further appearances were made until Seth became a full-time regular character in the summer of 1980 when he switched from the Malt Shovel to The Woolpack and continuously annoyed the landlord Amos Brearly and latter Alan Turner who took over in 1991 when Amos left who memorably often shouted "Get out Seth!". Seth is one of the longest running characters in the history of Emmerdale, and serves as the fourth longest running character in the history of the show.
His memorable storylines included his turbulent relationship with Betty Eagleton, dealing with guilt over his role in the death of Jackie Merrick, the death of his wife Meg, a friendship with Kim Tate and in his later years, his ailing health. After appearing as a semi-regular character from 1978 to 1980, permanently from 1980 to 2003 and as a guest character in 2004, Richards was expected to return to the serial, but his death in February 2005 prevented this and producers opted to rest the character as a result, with Seth dying on the flight over from Australia back to the village.
Seth has been mentioned on numerous occasions since his death, and is remembered as one of the serial's most iconic characters.
Seth Armstrong was born on 12 November 1926 and grew up in Beckindale. He had a sister who later moved to Worthing. He was found out to be an illegal descendant of nobles Verney family. Seth romanced young Betty Pendagast in 1944 and they almost married. He later got married in 1952 to Meg and they had two children, Jimmy in 1953 and Freddie followed about 9 years later.
Seth started out as the school's boiler man living with his wife, Meg. He was a poacher but became gamekeeper in 1980. He swapped the Malt Shovel (Beckindale's other pub) for the Woolpack that summer. In 1981, he forced local hardnut Tom Merrick out of the village after he tried to frame Jack Sugden in an arson attack. Seth and Meg had marriage difficulties in 1983, which resulted in him sleeping in a shed at Home Farm. However, he won her back with a bottle of port. Two years later, he opened up a NY social club to create rivalry for The Woolpack but the beer made everyone ill and he only made a profit of 10p before closing down. He later hired entertainment for The Woolpack by getting strippers who could tame snakes to entertain the pub but Amos refused to allow it.
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