The Woolpack Siege

The Woolpack Siege was a major event in October 2013 when Cameron Murray took everyone in The Woolpack hostage, threatening to shoot anyone that tried to escape.
== Plot ==
Having murdered Carl King the year before, Cameron Murray had gone on to proceed in killing both Alex Moss in December 2012 and Genesis Walker in July 2013, in desperate attempts to keep his first murder a secret. Cameron's crimes were soon exposed by Debbie and Chas Dingle in September 2013 and he was consequently arrested and jailed. However, Cameron escaped from police custody and secretly returned to the village.
While the village was hit by torrential rain, Cameron first scared Debbie by taking her daughter Sarah to an abandoned barn, leading Debbie to believe she had been snatched, before leaving Sarah in the barn to get Debbie and her son Jack and bring them back to the barn. She is later rescued by Andy Sugden and Moira Barton who hear Sarah shouting and banging at the door. Later that night, Cameron stole Zak Dingle's shotgun and headed off for The Woolpack. Breaking in through the back door, Cameron knocked out Marlon Dingle and locked him in the cellar before entering the pub, armed with the stolen gun, taking Debbie, Jack, Chas, Zak, Alicia Gallagher, Bernice Blackstock, Dan Spencer, David Metcalfe, Diane Sugden, Nicola King, Priya Sharma and Ruby Haswell hostage inside, vowing to shoot them if they threatened him.
As police began to cordon off the area and negotiate with Cameron, he told Debbie that he came back for her and wanted to flee the village with her to start a new life but she refused to do so. As Zak and Chas attempted to take matters into their own hands, Chas hit Cameron on the head with a chair just as he pulled the trigger on the shotgun and shot Alicia directly in the stomach.
Cameron eventually freed everyone with the exception of Chas and Debbie, as he still demanded to leave with Debbie. Whilst all this was going on, Marlon, still locked in the cellar, came round to discover the cellar was on the verge of flooding as rainwater continued to gush in quickly. Managing to escape, he hit Cameron round the head with a bottle and took possession of the gun. Meanwhile, Chas and Debbie now found themselves in the flooding cellar as Cameron had sent them to investigate a noise that Marlon had made to distract Cameron. After a struggle, Marlon overpowered Cameron and escaped just as the lights in the pub went out and armed police raided the building.
Debbie and Chas struggled to escape the rising floodwaters in the cellar, particularly as Cameron was now with them and constantly tried to pull them underwater so that they would drown. With the help of the police, Debbie and Chas were able to get out and just as Cameron followed them, he came into contact with the cellar light that had dropped into the water and was still switched on. The light electrocuted Cameron, killing him instantly.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Alicia's life hung in the balance as she flatlined and was given CPR. Surgeons managed to restart her heart but as she was still in a grave condition, she was taken back into theatre for further surgery.
===List of hostages===
* Debbie Dingle
* Chas Dingle
* Zak Dingle
* Diane Sugden
* Bernice Blackstock
* Nicola King
* Marlon Dingle
* Priya Sharma
* David Metcalfe
* Alicia Gallagher
* Ruby Haswell
* Dan Spencer
* Jack Sugden
==Timeline==
Despite mostly taking place on one day in the show, the siege storyline took up multiple episodes
*On 10th October Cameron escapes from jail while being escorted in a prison van with another prisoner. Later, Debbie and Chas are in The Woolpack when DC Flanagan tells them the news
*On 14th October Cameron takes Sarah Sugden to a barn and locks her inside. Cameron then breaks into the Dingle van and steals Zak Dingle's gun and cartridges.
*On 15th October Cameron attacks PC Harrison and knocks him unconscious. He then sneaks into The Woolpack, knocking out Marlon Dingle and leaving him to drown in the flooding cellar before heading back to the bar where Debbie is horrified when Cameron appears.
*On 16th October Cameron holds various villagers hostage in the Woolpack. Cameron tries to get Debbie to leave with him, but she makes it clear that it will never happen. Zak stands up to Cameron and as Zak tries to wrestle the shotgun out of Cameron's hands, Alicia Harding is shot in the stomach. However, most of the villagers, aside from Debbie and Chas, are soon let out. Cameron becomes erratic again as Debbie yells at him, and he tells them that they have ten seconds to decide between them which one of them to shoot. 
*On 17th October the hostage situation reaches its climax when Cameron tries to drown himself and Debbie after both Chas and Marlon already managed to escape. In the end, Debbie manages to escape and Cameron is killed when he gets electrocuted after grabbing onto a light bulb. 
*On 18th October Cameron's body is taken away in a private ambulance as his reign of terror over the village is finally over. Chas and Debbie make amends and recoup their friendship after surviving the siege
==Background information==
*In 2013, it was announced that the episodes that would air on the week of the soap's 41st anniversary would be centred on a "dramatic stunt.”
*The siege won "Spectacular Scene of the Year" at The British Soap Awards 2014, under the title of "The Woolpack siege and flood". The award was accepted by Charley Webb (Debbie) and Mark Charnock (Marlon).
Category:Events