Viv arrives in Beckindale to view the post office with her husband, Vic (Alun Lewis), and their children, Scott (Toby Cockerell; Ben Freeman), Donna (Sophie Jeffery; Verity Rushworth) and Kelly (Adele Silva).

[citation needed] She finds it hard to adapt to country life and does not realize how much her children are affected by the plane crash in December 1993.

[citation needed] She intended to sue the Sugdens after Donna has an accident on their tractor and later supports Vic when he appears in court for assaulting looters.

[citation needed]In June 1994, Reg Dawson (Niven Boyd), Viv's ex-husband and Scott's father, arrives in the village after being released from prison.

[citation needed] He later takes Viv and Shirley Turner (Rachel Davies) hostage during a siege at the post office.

[citation needed] In 1995, Viv is annoyed when Tina Dingle (Jacqueline Pirie) flirts with Vic and she bars Kim Tate (Claire King) from the post office when she and her husband, Frank (Norman Bowler), threaten them with eviction.

[citation needed] She starts to hate him and eventually moves out to live with Terry in the Woolpack, but soon returns to Vic for her children's sake.

[citation needed]She also starts a campaign against Andy Hopwood (Kelvin Fletcher) at school and tries to seduce Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt), but he rejected Viv's advances.

A hosiery salesman, Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw), changes Viv's life almost immediately, and after he seduces her with his charm, he moves in with her.

Furious at her friend's betrayal, Viv throws Carol out of the house and she responds by hiding a bag of frozen prawns in a curtain rail.

Viv forgives him, and decides to try and raise some cash for a honeymoon by entering the Naughty Nylons competition organised by Bob's firm.

To make matters more difficult for Viv, Scott begins a relationship with Bob's daughter Dawn (Julia Mallam).

Alone and unhappy, Viv begins flirting with her employee and best friend Emily Kirk's (Kate McGregor) husband Paddy whom she had previously tried to seduce eight years earlier.

A misunderstanding leads Paddy to confess to sleeping with Viv, resulting in Emily smashing up the shop, resigning from her job and announcing their deception to all the villagers in The Woolpack.

Viv is at her lowest point and things only get worse when Scott is injured, following a violent showdown at Home Farm with Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell), mother of his daughter, Jean (Megan Pearson).

It transpires that Bob has actually spent the night in a hotel after a vasectomy reversal and is taken prisoner by his ex-wife and Dawn's mother Jean Hope (Julie Higginson) who begs him to leave Viv and get back together with her.

Viv begins raising money for children's charities, a drive which gains a higher profile when Ashley (John Middleton) and Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) lose their son Daniel to cot death.

With the help of a private investigator, Viv finds Freddie, but he threatens her children's lives and physically attacks her, putting stolen money in her bag as a goodbye present before getting away.

On 20 August 2008, after Donna nearly dies in a car accident whilst pursuing Freddie, Viv pleads guilty in court and is later sentenced to three years imprisonment.

She needs money to pay for her taxi and returns to the café/post office, only for Brenda Walker (Lesley Dunlop) to mistake her for a thief and restrain her until Paddy clears up the confusion by identifying Viv.

She goes to Essex for a week to visit Donna to see how she is getting on after leaving her husband, Marlon, and the village for a new job during Viv's absence.

Viv's life seems to be back on track, but things decline again when it is revealed that Bob had had sex with Brenda's adoptive daughter, Gennie, his son Jamie's girlfriend whilst she was in prison.

After being encouraged by her former lover Terry after he finds out that she had faked the burglaries, Viv resumes her love of salsa dance classes and genuinely seems to be trying to move on and adjust to being single again, having fun and seeking a new boyfriend.

Viv misinterprets his friendliness, and makes a move on him believing he wants to restart their relationship and kisses him and he hesitates before leaving the café in shock.

Despite being one of Emmerdale's longest serving characters, Viv's funeral, agreed by Bob, Donna, Scott and Kelly, was held in her hometown in Essex, off-screen.

[citation needed] She trained with raunchy Hot Gossip's choreographer, Arlene Phillips, performed in stage musicals and was a member of the band Cats U.K., as well as singing with pop stars such as Alan Price and B.

[citation needed] Payne took the job and found a small cottage in which to live for the first six months, where she brought William up and hired a nanny.

[2] Payne had no problems tackling the role of Viv,[citation needed] a wife and mother in a family themselves moving from London to Yorkshire.

[4] In August 2008 Payne's sabbatical storyline reached its climax, when Viv was wrongly imprisoned for a fraud committed by conman Freddie Yorke (Keith Woodason).