The biggest DDP hit of the year came with the passing of the face of Emmerdale‘s “Attitude Era”, Leah Bracknell – and now we pay our respects to the face of its “Golden Era” Hulk Hogan. Sheila Mercier first started performing at a young age in concerts put on by her musician mother, and had her first big break on the stage proper in plays put on by her younger brother Brian Rix. She spent 21 years in Whitehall farces, both on stage and screen, a run that was only broken when she took up the role of matriarch Annie Sugden on a new soap opera: Emmerdale Farm. During her 23 years on the soap, Sugden was widowed twice, became addicted to painkillers and fell into a coma after being hit by airplane debris. She made occasional appearances after leaving the show in 1994, usually to pay tribute to a character (or actor) death. She herself made it to 100, and unsurprisingly had a number of teams pick her.
Sheila Mercier
1 January 1919 – 4 December 2019
Died aged 100 (15 picks)