Emmerdale kills off Joanie Wright
Emmerdale has killed off Joanie Wright (Denise Black) in a turn of events that was kept under wraps before transmission.
In scenes screened by the rural saga tonight (30 Jan), Joanie’s stint behind bars for assaulting a police officer came to an end, but before she could get back to the village and see her beloved grandson, she suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.
Joanie was travelling home with Lisa (Jane Cox) at the time who had confessed that she and Zak (Steve Halliwell) are back together. Joanie’s incredulity led to Lisa admitting her own doubts over the reunion.
However, Lisa’s confiding in Joanie was cut short by the sound of Joanie’s health taking a turn for the worse. Joanie’s death was confirmed in a later scene when Lisa broke the news to Zak.
“I don’t know how to tell you this. Joanie’s died. I collected her from prison like we’d planned. We were talking, it was fine. Then she keeled over.
“I called an ambulance. They tried to resuscitate her, but she was gone. There was nothing they could do.” – Emmerdale character Lisa Dingle
Joanie and Lisa stopped off to talk about Zak, moments before Joanie died.
As with the death of Holly Barton last year, Joanie’s sad demise was kept quiet before tonight’s episode so that it would take fans by surprise. Although the show had hinted that a female character was about to breathe their last on Twitter.
Denise Black joined the Emmerdale cast briefly in 2013 with a plot that saw Joanie’s grandson Kyle taken by his mother Amy before being returned to her care. The actress made a full-time return to the soap in 2015 with Joanie down on her luck in initial storylines.
Joanie was subsequently involved in a village scandal when she had an affair with Zak, before later marrying him. Zak and Joanie broke up at Christmas when Zak’s feelings for Lisa became clear.
Denise Black first found soap fame in Coronation Street.
Denise has a wealth of television and stage credits with roles in ITV drama Bad Girls and Channel 4’s Queer as Folk to name a few. However, she is best known for her role as hairdresser, and one time lover of Ken Barlow, Denise Osborne in Coronation Street.
Hope this is to pave the way for Denise to return to Coronation Street.
RIP
Didn’t like them splitting up Lisa and Zac, but I liked her character very much.