There’s been all sorts of goings on with our rural favourites over at Emmerdale, so let’s take a look at what they’ve been up to this year…

Last Christmas was of course the Tom King murder storyline so into the New Year we saw Matthew going a bit mental and trying to fill in his dad’s grave so that wife Rosemary couldn’t be planted with him.

A potentially happier event was the pending nuptials of Andy and Jo, however when Andy was summonsed to court, he was given a jail sentence for setting the fire that killed Sarah Sugden.

And Lily found herself in trouble with the law too when it turned out that she was growing marijuana in the village so, filled with shame, Edna chucked her sister out.

A chilly February saw things heating up between Gray and Katie who’d agreed to be a surrogate for him and Perdy but secretly had feelings for the suave lawyer. Meanwhile, Andy was looking forward to marrying Jo in prison but she was struggling to keep things together down on the farm.

Then tragedy struck when Ashley and Laurel’s baby Daniel died of cot death but of course later in the year, it was to transpire that Daniel wasn’t their biological child. In the meantime, Nicola had roped David into her plan to murder Donald and inherit his estate but the pair kept messing it up.

March saw Johnny and Paul getting hitched in a civil ceremony that not all the villagers were happy about and Laurel and Ashley were struggling to come to terms with Daniel’s death. Laurel blamed her mother and this caused a terrible scene following his funeral.

In happier news, Jamie proposed to Louise and they began to plan a life together but while Andy and Jo should have been equally as happy, they were instead entering a phase in their relationship that saw Andy hit Jo for the first time.

April blew in on strong winds and carried with them a new addition to the Dingle clan in the form of Gennie, a child of Shadrack’s with whom he was delighted to be reunited. However, Ashley and Laurel were to receive devastating news from their doctor – following Laurel’s mother’s suspicions – that Daniel was not their biological child.

Donna was finding it hard to cope with nasty copper Shane but she thwarted a well meant attempt by Ross to set Shane up on a drugs charge while TJ got E Coli, prompting a furious Terry to accuse almost everyone of making his son ill, but most especially an already stressed Jo.

In May, Ashley and Laurel discovered that their friend Mel’s baby was in fact their child and Viv was trying desperately to track down devious fraudster Freddie who’d stolen charity money that she’d been collecting, pointing the finger of suspicion at her.

Andy continued to be increasingly violent towards Jo and for the first time, he put his wife in hospital while his ex-wife Katie was by now adamant that Perdy would not be allowed any part in the baby’s life.

June saw Emmerdale’s 35th anniversary which was celebrated on June 3rd with Val and Eric’s wedding, however, Val was kidnapped by the Dingles prior to the ceremony and held to ransom but the wedding of course went ahead in the end.

Meanwhile, Donald’s son Miles fell off the wagon and started drinking again when Jasmine broke off their relationship and dopey Sam and Eli accidentally set Pollard’s factory on fire, razing it to the ground.

In July we were introduced to Donald’s estranged daughter Anna who was to shake things up in the DeSouza empire, including making Carl very nervous for he had just been made head of the company, a position he feared Anna would challenge.

A very preggers Katie was devastated to find out that Gray had had an affair with Paul and vowed there and then that Gray wouldn’t get the baby. Instead, she set it up so that Perdy could disappear with the child immediately following its birth. When Grayson found out what Katie had done, he attacked her and had to be restrained. He left the village soon after vowing to never stop looking for his son.

By the time August rolled in, Andy had been released from prison and had gone to Spain to see his Gran and Jack. When he returned however it was clear that his jealous streak hadn’t been dissipated by his break away and he beat up poor Sam who had a crush on Jo.

Carl and Anna had buried the hatchet and were in fact a secret item so when Lexi came back from visiting Carrie, Carl planned to dump her in favour of his new lover however, it turned out that Carrie had told Lexi that truth about Tom’s death; that Carl had in fact murdered him. Fearing that if he dumped her, Lexi would spill the beans, he was stuck with her.

Meanwhile, Viv’s trial went ahead and despite Donna and Ross desperately trying to find Freddie in time, Viv was imprisoned for three years for fraud and theft. Donna and Ross were involved in a terrible car crash as they pursued the villainous Freddie which left Donna clinging to life and with severe injuries to her back.

In September the village held its annual show but while the rest of the residents were admiring prize marrows, Katie and Matthew were being held at gunpoint by a crazed Grayson who demanded to know where his son was. Carl unknowingly walked in on the situation and was shot by Grayson, but not seriously injured.

Anna finally confronted her father about his cold attitude towards her but during the row, Donald suffered a heart attack which put things in perspective for them both.

While she was recovering from her injuries, Donna and Ross realised there was something between them and they shared a kiss while Jo lied to Andy and told him she was pregnant in order to avoid him hitting her again.

During October Donna and Ross’s love affair shifted into high gear and they spent the night together. While their love was blossoming, Jo was living in fear of Andy and when he found out she wasn’t pregnant after all, he was furious. A row ensued and Andy chased Jo into the barn which resulted in him ending up impaled on a spike. Jo had to think quickly and she decided to leave Andy to die.

Jamie and Louise weren’t finding the course of true love smooth either and when Louise decided to head back to Australia, Jamie caught up with her just in time and headed down under with her.

November brought bad news for Lily who – after the shame of being found out stealing the factory girl’s prize of a car to give the proceeds to Peter – found out that she had a brain aneurysm that could be terminal.

Jasmine behaved very stupidly and became involved with the MacFarlanes and nasty copper Shane – ignoring Debbie’s warnings not to – which was to culminate in his murder. Other relationships were going rather better though and Anna proposed to Matthew, much to Donald’s horror. The news brought on a heart attack and Matthew watched Donald die after withholding his vital medication.

I can’t wait to see what 2009 has in store for us! Thanks for a great year Emmerdale!