Dawn Woods in Emmerdale: Marriage to Terry, romance with Scott and tragic death

Dawn Woods shocked her father Bob when she arrived in Emmerdale in 2003 and announced she was engaged to the much older Terry.

She stayed in the village for three years before meeting a tragic end in 2006. With her final weeks currently playing out on Classic Emmerdale, we take a look at Dawn’s time in the Dales.

Dawn’s marriage to Terry

Dawn arrived in Emmerdale as the fiancée of Terry Woods after they had met on holiday in Spain. It was then revealed that she was the daughter of Bob Hope. Bob had left her, her mum Jean and brother Jamie when she was just 4 years old.

Despite’s Bob’s reservations over the 27-year age gap, Dawn and Terry got married in March 2003, a month after her arrival. They went on to have son TJ (Terry Junior) together. But shortly after TJ’s birth, Terry a stroke. Struggling to cope with a baby and an ill husband, Dawn ended the marriage.

When Dawn’s mum arrived to support her through the split, she took a liking to Terry and made a move on him. After being rejected, she encouraged her daughter to go for sole custody of TJ. Dawn agreed, arguing that due to his stroke, Terry often got tired and was a possible risk to TJ.

Emmerdale Dawn Woods: Relationship with her stepbrother

Dawn started seeing her stepbrother Scott Windsor, which gained more disapproval from Bob – who was married to Scott’s mum Viv. The couple soon moved in together, but Dawn was devastated when Scott left her. Zoe Tate was planning to move to America with her and Scott’s daughter Jean, and had invited Scott to go with them.

Scott sent Dawn a letter telling her that it was best if they split as people thought their relationship was weird and he had convinced himself that he didn’t love her. Not wanting to see Scott or Zoe before they left for the US, Dawn legged it to Spain to stay with her mum.

However, Scott never made it to America. Zoe discovered that he and his mum were plotting to take Jean. A fight occurred and Zoe stabbed Scott with a syringe full of ketamine. Dawn flew home just as Scott woke up in hospital and initially forgave him. But after she discovered he’d been blackmailing Paddy to be a witness against Zoe at trial, his true colours was shown to Dawn.

Scott later punched Dawn by mistake while attacking Paddy and he was arrested for assault. Realising that Scott might be capable of rape as Zoe claimed, Dawn ended their relationship for good.

Time in prison

After his release from prison, Scott decided to get revenge on Dawn by reporting Dawn for benefit fraud. She’d been doing odd jobs to support TJ and make ends meet.

Dawn was sentenced to 6 weeks in prison, although she only served 3 weeks. Upon her release, she was shocked to discover that her mum and Terry were now in a relationship. When they refused to end their relationship, Dawn reminded Terry that her mum was the reason she went for sole custody of their son.

Dawn banned both Terry and her mum from seeing TJ and took him away to Cornwall.

Dawn’s tragic death

When Dawn returned to Emmerdale, she informed everyone that she had met someone and would be moving there permanently. Terry begged her to change her mind, but she refused.

On the day of her planned departure, Dawn allowed Terry to spend the day with TJ, but he was late returning TJ, resulting in them missing the flight.

Wanting something to do to pass the time, Dawn went with Marlon and Donna to visit their new house at the King’s River Showhome. However, a sabotage of the plot had been arranged by Sadie King and when the boiler room door was opened, the whole place exploded.

At first it appeared that Dawn was fine, with her injuries seeming minor. Doctors planned to observe her and then release her. But things took a turn and Bob returned from getting a coffee to see his daughter being rushed into emergency theatre. He was later told that she passed away from internal injuries.

Who played Dawn Woods?

Dawn was played by Julia Mallam. Before starring in Emmerdale, Julia had appeared in Fat Friends and Peak Practice.

After leaving Emmerdale, she starred in 50 episodes of children’s TV show Captain Mack. She also popped up in The Bill, Casualty and Doctors, although hasn’t appeared on TV since 2012.

Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2024

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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