Viv Hope: Marriage to Bob, fiery death and actress Deena Payne’s ‘deep hurt’ over exit

Emmerdale Post Mistress and resident gossip Viv Hope has long-since been remembered by fans despite her untimely demise in a fire. In fact, her legs still feature in the opening credits 13 years after she died!

As she takes centre stage with her double wedding in Classic episodes currently, here’s the lowdown on Viv.

Viv and Vic Windsor in Emmerdale

Iconic Viv Windsor arrived in what was then Beckindale in 1993. She and her husband Vic, plus her son Scott, his daughter Kelly and their daughter together, Donna, bought the Post Office after deciding to leave London due to increasing crime rates.

Not long after the family moved, Viv’s ex-husband, Reg Dawson, father of Scott, turned up having been released from prison. He immediately took Viv and a woman called Shirley Turner hostage. He tried to shoot Viv, but Shirley was hit and killed instead. Reg was then shot by police and he died. He left £30k to Viv in his will as long as she divorced Vic, but she turned the money down and stayed with her husband.

Viv and Vic did split up for a while in 1995 when she had an affair with Terry Woods, but she went back to him for the sake of the kids. Things eventually got better for Viv and Vic, but then tragedy struck. He was shot and killed during a robbery at the Post Office on Christmas Day, 1998.

Viv and Bob Hope

After a turbulent few years, during which she fell out with stepdaughter Kelly and son Scott, Viv was swept off her feet by Bob Hope, a tights salesman in 2000! He very quickly moved in with her and they married in 2001.

However, they were rocked by the revelation Bob had another wife, Barbara. They got past it, but cracks were starting to show and they eventually divorced. She moved on, seducing Paddy Kirk, which resulted in the end of his marriage to Emily.

Depressed Viv was lonely and really struggled when Scott was injured by Zoe Tate. But she and Bob finally got back together and she started planning their second wedding. It was set to be a double wedding with daughter Donna and her fiancé Marlon Dingle.

Bob wanted all of his children to attend the wedding and Viv contacted them. She became upset to discover he had kids with all of his ex-wives, but not her. He disappointed Viv when he told her kids were off the cards due to his vasectomy.

But the night before the wedding, he had the op reversed and spent the night in a hotel. Viv had no idea and when he didn’t turn up, assumed he’d jilted her. In fact, ex-wife Jean had taken him hostage in the hotel room and was begging him to get back with her. Bob managed to get away and he and Viv married for a second time.

Bob’s daughter Dawn was then killed in an explosion at a show home, thanks to the Kings. On the day of her funeral, Viv discovered she was pregnant with twins Cathy and Heath, who arrived on February 9, 2007.

Prison for Viv in Emmerdale

After she began raising money for children’s charities, Viv got into a trouble when she gave the money to a man named Freddy Yorke who took it and ran away. When Viv admitted she was moving money around she ended up implicating herself. She was charged with conspiracy to defraud.

Although she attempted to clear her name, Freddy threatened her children’s lives and then planted stolen money on her, which only served to make matters worse. Viv pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison.

She refused to let Bob visit, but determined to stand by his wife, Bob devised several plans to get into the prison. Viv eventually wrote to him in 2009 and asked him to come and see her, but he felt things were over, so decided to have sex with Gennie Walker instead!

It turned out Viv was actually being released and when she turned up in the village the next day, Brenda mistook her for a thief! Brenda was now co-owner of the business, which Viv struggled with and they clashed a lot.

The death of Viv in Emmerdale

When Viv then found out about Bob’s fling with Gennie, she called time on their marriage. However, it soon became clear she hoped the split wasn’t permanent. She began faking burglaries to play the damsel in distress and get Bob’s help and also tried to make him jealous. Eventually former lover Terry advised her to move on and she did try.

Terry supported her, but she mistook his kindness for something more and made a move. He gently knocked her back, insisting he was now with Brenda.

One more rejection hit Viv hard and she drunk a bottle of wine before passing out on the sofa. But a fire had been started at neighbouring Victoria Cottage and it soon spread to the shop. Terry broke in to rescue her and the twins. Bob got Heath and Cathy to safety, while Terry tried to get Viv.

However the Post Office exploded and Terry and Viv were both killed. Viv’s funeral was then held in her hometown of Essex, off screen.

Deena Payne and the controversy surrounding Viv’s exit

Viv was played by actress Deena Payne for 18 years, which made her one of the longest-serving show characters. Although she has admitted she was ready to leave as Viv, Deena has been very open about her disappointment over the way things were handled.

She gave an interview to the Distinct Nostalgia podcast in 2022 and explained: “18 years was enough. It was at a time when I wasn’t quite sure. If they tempted me to stay, I would’ve stayed and I would have preferred to have given in my notice. I was bitterly disappointed with the storyline exit I had as well after all the years I had been in.”

She went on to say: “I was hurt quite deeply and I did enjoy playing the character. I still miss that, absolutely, it did hurt, that’s for sure because it was a life and a person I had been playing for 18 years.”

Deena also spoke out about the storyline and how she didn’t want her character to die. “I not only didn’t have a storyline building up to it, but I also didn’t even have a grave in Emmerdale.

“They just sent my bits down south and I didn’t have any family left there so I did feel all of a sudden gone.

“And yes, in an ideal world it would have been fantastic to keep coming back in and muddying the waters and upsetting everybody and then back out as if nothing had happened.”

What is Deena Payne doing now?

Following her Emmerdale demise, Deena went back to the theatre. She has appeared on stage in Calendar Girls as well as in several pantomimes.

She has done some more TV, including True Crime and Doctors. It’s also reported she runs a dance school.

Read more: Marlon Dingle and his five marriages

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

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