William Makepeace, played by Dudley Sutton, made his first screen appearance on 27 February 2014. The character and Sutton's casting was announced on 30 January 2014. The actor commented "This will be my second appearance in Emmerdale as I appeared in 1997 as a tramp! It's great to be back in Yorkshire and I have fond memories of filming the Beiderbecke Trilogy in the same building as Emmerdale is now filmed." William is Seb Makepeace's (James Redmond) grandfather and is cared for by Seb's former girlfriend Ruby Haswell (Alicya Eyo). William has "an old-fashioned attitude" and he makes life difficult for Ruby.
