Emmerdale fans outraged at ill-timed Pudsey joke

A nation was left devastated last month when Britain’s Got Talent winner Ashleigh Butler announced her beloved co-performer Pudsey had passed away from leukemia.

In Tuesday night’s Emmerdale, the show made a joke about Pudsey, which many believed wasn’t appropriate given the dog’s recent death.

It was Sam Dingle and his new lady friend Lydia Hart who provided the supposed laughs as Lydia insisted she wanted to teach Sam to dance.

Lydia wanted to see Sam’s moves, but he wasn’t keen (Credit: ITV)

Read more: Britain’s Got Talent star announces her beloved dog has passed away

Dressed like she was teaching an 80’s aerobics workout and he was starring in Saturday Night Fever, Lydia was all enthusiastic, but Sam was not keen at all.

Coming down the stairs of the Dingles’ in his dance get-up, an uncomfortable Sam said:

Sam thinks dancing is for girls (Credit: ITV)

“I’m not right sure about this, you know, can’t I just prop up the bar?” Before he added: “Dancing’s all right for girls, innit?”

An unimpressed Lydia replied: “Really, just for girls? Tell that to Fonteyn, or Beyonce…or Pudsey?”

“I don’t think Pudsey’s a bitch,” Sam said.

Lydia name-checked Pudsey (Credit: ITV)

“Well, we can all have our moments,” Lydia joked.

The reference to the dancing dog didn’t go down well with fans who felt it should probably have been cut when Pudsey passed away.

They could at least have said something about him tragically being no longer with us.

Read more: Emmerdale SPOILER: Ross finds out Emma’s murderous secret?

Ashleigh and Pudsey won over viewers in the 2012 BGT series, but Ashleigh announced on her Instagram on July 21 that Pudsey had died.

Ashleigh was left heartbroken by Pudsey’s death (Credit: ITV)

The heartbroken trainer wrote: “I can’t honestly believe I am writing these words.

“My handsome man has gone, and I don’t know what to do without him. My heart is broken, and I don’t know how I’m going to get through this.

“It hurts so much, that my handsome, incredible Pudsey Bear will never be by my side, where he belongs, again. We only had 11 years together, but they were the best years ever. He was my one in a billion dog that will never be replaced.

“I don’t need to write all of his endless accomplishments on here to prove how incredible he was for me.

“Sleep tight my handsome man, I love you lots xxxx.”

Ashleigh was upset on This Morning (Credit: ITV)

She tearfully appeared on This Morning a few days later to talk about the love she had for her best friend, and to reveal she would continue performing with another of her dogs, Sully.

Despite reports, she insisted she wasn’t going to rename Sully ‘Pudsey’ and that he’d never replace the original, but he would be unique in his own way.