Louise Appleton is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Emily Symons.

[1] Symons began filming her first scenes in May 2001 and she told Allison Maund of Inside Soap that Louise would be nothing like her "ditzy" Home and Away character, Marilyn Chambers.

[2] The men of Emmerdale could not believe their luck when gorgeous Australian Louise arrived and started work at The Woolpack.

Bright, beautiful and classy, Louise was the full package but much to the young men's disappointment, she started dating older lothario Rodney Blackstock.

The couple had a fun relationship and enjoyed each other's company but it didn't last as Rodney was still in love with his ex-wife, Diane Blackstock.

Diane acknowledged she had become a cold, cruel woman since Ray's murder and a bitter tension arose between them, particularly after Louise began seeing local married man, Ronnie Marsden.

Their affair was short-lived and Louise agreed to a date with Carl King, but dumped him when she realised he was married.

Newcomer Matthew King offered financial advice and helped organise a mortgage – but wanted more than Louise's business.

Louise shocked the village with her actions and even Diane was unable to feel any sympathy when Matthew abruptly dropped her days later.

When she met police officer Martin Crowe at a kid's judo class, Louise felt a frisson of attraction.

They were happy together until Martin learned that Sam Dingle had helped his wife, Alice, die of terminal cancer, and set out to arrest him.

Luckily Louise survived and told the police about her and Hari's lies so he was arrested for attempted murder and perverting the course of justice and was jailed for his crimes, selling his share of the veterinary surgery to Rosemary Sinclair.

In the pub later on, Louise quashed speculation by revealing she won a beauty contest in Australia and that Jonty is her manager.

Bob and Terry talked to Jonty, who shocked them by producing the volume of publicity Louise's competition win had generated.

In a race against time, Bob and Terry found Jamie as the villagers threw an impromptu going away party to stall Louise's exit.