Dale Turner

Dale Turner is a character on the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. He is played by Erik Knudsen.

Dale lives in a trailer park and works at Gracie's Market in Jericho, Kansas. In the pilot episode, it is revealed that Dale's mother and an unknown male companion were killed by a nuclear explosion that apparently destroyed Atlanta, Georgia. Their final moments were caught on an answering machine message, which Dale hears when he gets home. He is seen, in a state of shock, playing the message over and over.

Dale was initially held in disdain as a "loser" and a "freak" by Skylar Stevens, a rich girl who lives in a mansion outside of town, and whose parents were in New York at the time of the Denver explosion. When Dale brings supplies to her house just in advance of an expected radioactive fallout-laden rainfall, Skylar relents, asking him to stay with her, and there is some rapprochement between them as they realize that their parents are probably dead due to the explosions in other cities. However, once Skylar's friends return she returns to her old habits, though later she begins to care more for Dale, showing concern at the loss of his home to a fire in fifth episode, and bailing him out of jail in the sixth.

Dale also cares for Gracie and becomes worried about her store closing down due to the residents of the town clearing all her stock. Because of this, he discovers a trainload of undelivered supplies on the outskirts of town as the third episode closes, and restocks the store in the next episode.

In episode 6, 9:02, Daled becomes involved with a group of survivalists lead by Mitch Cafferty, an estranged former friend of Jake. He enlists the help of Mitch's group to offload the rest of the supplies from the train, and stores them in a barn on the edge of town. After being confronted by Jake following the theft of the Green family's horses, Dale reconsiders his allegiance to Mitch's group, and informs Jake about the train and supplies. Dale leads Jake and Eric to the barn, only to discover the supplies are missing. Mitch appears, and after a brief struggle is arrested by Eric. Although Dale helps Jake to put Mitch in jail, they are unable to recover the badly needed supplies.

Information on Dale's life before the bombs can be found on his MySpace page.