Soaps

Laurel Thomas: Emmerdale character’s family, marriages, and children

Laurel has bene in the village for 18 years

| Updated:

Laurel Thomas has been in Emmerdale since 2002 and is played by actress Charlotte Bellamy. But who is Laurel and who are her family members?

Laurel Thomas in Emmerdale: Who are her family?

Laurel’s parents are Doug Potts and Hilary Potts.

Doug appeared in the soap from 2007 until 2020, when he moved to Australia. Hilary appeared in the soap from 2007 until 2008.

Doug and Hilary are Laurel’s parents (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Laurel Thomas in Emmerdale: Who has she been married to and who are the father of her children?

Laurel has been married to Ashley Thomas twice. The first time in 2005 and the second time in 2016.

Between marrying Ashley, Laurel had a relationship with Marlon and they married in 2014.

When Laurel met Ashley he was a single father to Gabby Thomas as her mother Bernice moved away from the village shortly after Gabby’s birth.

Ashley Thomas in Emmerdale looks dishevelled
Ashley and Laurel got married twice (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Laurel became Gabby’s stepmother and to this day, she sees Laurel as her mother figure.

Laurel and Ashley also have a son named Arthur, who was born in 2007 and a daughter Dotty, born in 2016.

In April 2017, Ashley died. He had been diagnosed with dementia in 2015, but he got pneumonia in 2017 and died a few days later.

Gabby is Laurel’s stepdaughter (Credit: ITV)

Currently Laurel is in a relationship with Jai Sharma. Last year, Laurel discovered she was pregnant with his child.

However after discovering their child had Down’s Syndrome, they made the difficult decision to have a termination.

Baby Daniel

Baby Daniel was born August 26 2007. It was believed that Daniel was the son of Laurel and Ashley Thomas, however there was a mix up at the hospital.

Daniel was actually the biological son of couple Greg and Melanie Doland.

Baby Daniel died in 2008 (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Laurel and Ashley were raising baby Daniel unaware he wasn’t their biological child.

But on February 21 2008, when he was six months old Laurel found him not breathing in his cot and it was confirmed he had died.

A post mortem revealed Laurel and Ashley could not be Daniel’s biological parents and a DNA test later proved that the Doland’s son Arthur, was actually Laurel and Ashley’s biological son and the babies got mixed up.

Arthur is Laurel and Ashley’s son (Credit: ITV)

Read more: Why was Ellis actor from Emmerdale sacked? Asan N’Jie spotted in Bloodlands episode one

They eventually got custody of their son. Recently Laurel visited baby Daniel’s grave on the 13th anniversary of his death.

Laurel vs. Sally Spode

In 2009, Ashley reunited with old rival Vincent and was shocked to see he had married his former flame, Sally.

Sally was very manipulative and got Ashley and Laurel to believe her husband Vincent was abusing her.

Then she made several attempts to kill Laurel including locking her in the church. A heater soon set fire to one of the curtains and Laurel had to be rescued.

Sally caused issues for Laurel and Ashley (Credit: ITV/Shutterstock)

Laurel eventually realised Sally was trying to kill her so asked her to move out, as she had been staying with Laurel and Ashley.

However Sally didn’t move far and started stalking Ashley. She then claimed she was pregnant with his child.

It was later revealed she was mentally ill and was sectioned in 2010.

When did Laurel start drinking?

In 2014 Laurel began drinking when she was married to Marlon.

Their marriage was rocky and a Laurel had a handful of incidents with alcohol, including Marlon’s young daughter April drinking her vodka cocktail, thinking it was juice.

Laurel has struggled with addiction (Credit: ITV)

Read more: Who plays Carl’s mum Juliette in Emmerdale and why is she really back?

Laurel eventually did get help after running over Marlon’s dog Daisy and contracting an STI from a man she had a one-night-stand with.

Recently Laurel’s struggle with addiction was revisited after she relapsed following her termination. But she immediately sought help.

Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story


Charlotte Rodrigues
Soap Contributor
Charlotte Rodrigues joined Entertainment Daily in April 2018, as Audience Engagement Executive. A huge soap fan, Charlotte then became Senior Soap Writer, delivering the latest storylines and spoilers to our followers.