Emmerdale’s Victoria Sugden left the ITV soap on Thursday’s episode, but why is actress Isabel Hodgins leaving the role after almost 32 years, and will she be back?
09:47, 12 Feb 2026Updated 10:10, 12 Feb 2026
Emmerdale’s Victoria Sugden left the ITV soap on Thursday’s episode(Image: ITV)
Victoria Sugden is leaving Emmerdale, the ITV soap has confirmed, after actress Isabel Hodgins recently explained why she left the role.
Isabel has played the iconic character since 2006, while Victoria was born on the show in 1994. She’s remained on the soap ever since, but this week it was confirmed Victoria would be leaving the village.
Soap fans can be rest assured that the character, and actress, will be back at some point and this is not a permanent exit. But her final scenes air during Thursday’s episode of the show, now available on ITVX and airing on ITV1 on Thursday evening.
So why is Victoria leaving, and why has actress Isabel decided to leave the role for the time being? In August last year, the actress confirmed she was pregnant with her first child.
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Isabel has played the iconic character since 2006(Image: ITV)
The star confirmed her due date was early 2026, which confirmed to soap fans that an exit was on the horizon for Victoria. Isabel finished filming weeks ago, and is now on maternity leave.
It’s not been confirmed when she will be back on the show, while she will be taking some time off for her maternity leave so fans shouldn’t expect her back anytime soon. Isabel has not yet announced whether she has welcomed her baby, while fans have been wishing her all the best now that her final scenes have been confirmed.
As for Victoria, her exit marks a very different story. Viewers know that in the beginning of January, her life was flipped upside down when she turned killer.
After her evil brother John Sugden tried to harm her, Victoria attacked him with a syringe in self-defence. She had no idea what was in it and accidentally killed her brother.
Victoria Sugden has left Emmerdale, the ITV soap has confirmed(Image: ITV)
In the fallout, she covered up the crime with the help of her brother Robert Sugden and Robert’s partner Aaron Dingle. Of course they were rumbled though by villain Joe Tate who had video evidence of Victoria killing John, staging the scene as a suicide and then fleeing the area.
Victoria’s life has well and truly fallen apart in the fallout as she struggles with her guilt, while also being blackmailed by Joe. He’s forced the Sugdens to hand over their farm land, while also getting Robert to frame Moira Dingle so he can have her land too.
The guilt of Moira being framed and John dying, with her young son Harry asking about him, has all become too much and it’s this that leads to her exit. As we say the exit is not permanent, so Victoria will be back at some point.
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