Who is Archie Breckle’s mum in Emmerdale?

ARCHIE Breckle is mourning the loss of his grandfather Rishi Sharma, who died in shocking scenes.

But this isn't the first tragedy to rock the boy's life, as Emmerdale fans will remember. Here's what you need to know about his mother.

Who is Archie Breckle's mother in Emmerdale?

Mulberry Cottage has been the home of Jai Sharma (played by Chris Bisson), his wife Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) and their children - which includes Archie.

Regular ITV viewers will recall that ten-year-old Archie is Jai Sharma's son, conceived and born under troubling circumstances.

Archie was conceived during a drunken one night stand between a married Jai and his cleaner, Rachel Breckle, then portrayed by Gemma Oaten.

Rachel soon found out she was expecting a baby and planned to have an abortion until Jai stepped in.

With his then-wife Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) refusing to have any more children - a thorny issue which also led to the breakdown of her marriage with Mackenzie Boyd - Jai convinced Rachel to keep the child.

To make things easier for her, he even arranged a flat for her to live in Leeds but she quickly got homesick and left the eponymous village to live with her sister Ali.

Refusing his child to be brought up in Ali's chaotic household, Jai bought Tenant House for Rachel to live in with their baby.

But things took a turn when Rachel and Charity had an explosive argument while helping out with the village nativity.

The heated discussion was cut short when Rachel went into labour and she was rushed to hospital where Archie was born three months prematurely on December 13, 2012.

New-born Archie spent time in the NICU and Rachel organised a christening with Sam Dingle (James Hooton) as his godfather.

Sam was of great help to Rachel in January, 2013, as she was getting ready to welcome Archie back home and the pair soon embarked on a relationship.

Meanwhile, Jai was determined to keep Archie's real paternity a secret and his father Rishi (Bhasker Patel) agreed to cover for him by telling Charity he was, in fact, Archie's father.

But the stress became overwhelming for Rishi as he struggled to keep the secret and he eventually suffered a heart attack which led to Charity putting two and two together.

What happened to Rachel Breckle in Emmerdale?

With the paternity secret out in the open, things came to a head for Rachel Breckle, particularly in January, 2014, when Charity and Jai's pal Declan Macey set fire to Home Farm, planting evidence to frame Sam.

Rachel decided to go on the run to protect Sam and left the Dales with Archie in tow.

Jai was devastated and was ready to move mountains to find his son.

In November, 2014, a man got in touch with Jai claiming Rachel had gone to rehab and Archie was in his care, which prompted the businessman to pay him to get his son back.

But there was a massive twist ahead of Jai as Rachel returned to the village in January, 2015, with the real Archie and the imposter was taken into care.

A tense custody battle between Jai and Rachel followed and the businessman went as far as planting drugs in her home to get Archie all to himself and asking his then-mistress Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi) to spy on the mother-son pair.

Rachel eventually gained custody of her son with the help of Jai's scorned wife Megan Macey.

Jai, who had been given fortnightly supervised visitation begged Rachel to give him more time with Archie - but she did the opposite.

Archie and Rachel left Emmerdale a second time in August, 2015, after her sister Ali asked her to move to Liverpool when finding out her relationship with Sam Dingle had turned violent.

Sadly, Archie was brought back to Emmerdale in September, 2019, when Rachel suddenly died from an undisclosed cardiac issue.

Archie was taken to his father's home but Jai struggle to bond with him after not seeing him for years.

Since then, the pair have been able to build a relationship which is sometimes troubled by the drama unfolding in the Dales.

In most recent scenes of the Yorkshire-based drama, members of the Sharma family have been heartbroken to learn that Rishi passed away as he was getting ready to attend Jai and Laurel's wedding.

How will Archie cope?

Emmerdale airs weeknights from 7.30pm on ITV.