EMMERDALE

UK | ITV – Yorkshire | x30m-e / 16 October 1972 – continuing

CREATOR: Kevin Laffan | THEME MUSIC: Tony Hatch

Rural soap Emmerdale has changed out of all recognition since its humble beginnings on daytime TV on 16 October 1972 as Emmerdale Farm. When it began (with a funeral) the show was almost wholly concerned with the Sugden family led by the newly widowed matriarch Annie. Eldest son (and black sheep) Jack also returned home after years away. The title of the show was also the Sugden’s Farm which had been left to Jack by his father. Also involved in the farm were youngest son Joe, daughter Peggy and her husband Matt Skilbeck and wily old Sam Pearson (Annie’s ageing father). The two other main characters during the shows early years were somewhat cantankerous pub landlord Amos Brearley (he of the famous mutton chop sideburns) and businessman Henry Wilks who not only ended up as co-landlord of the Woolpack Inn with Amos but also part owner of Emmerdale Farm Ltd (Jack decided to share the farm out among the family, Sam Pearson then sold his share to Henry).

Although part of the ITV Network’s daytime schedules the show was very popular (even being repeated at night in many ITV regions) and as time went on the show was moved nearer and nearer to prime time to its current spot of being shown at 7.00pm. It wasn’t until 1976 that the show opened out to take in more characters such as Matt’s second wife Dolly Acaster and in the late seventies two characters who made a big impression gamekeeper Seth Armstrong and tubby Alan Turner (Turner initially worked for conglomerate NY Estates and later took over the Woolpack from Henry and Amos, he is still in the show today). Jack Sugden (now played by a different actor) later got married to his childhood sweetheart Pat (he had unknowingly got her pregnant before leaving the village years before) and learned he had a teenage son called Jackie. Since that time the show has opened out all the more until now farming has very little to do with the show. There have been several spectacularly outrageous incidents since the early nineties (such as a plane crashing on the village wiping out many cast members, sieges and bus crashes).  With the de-emphasising of the farming aspects the shows producers decided to shorten the title of the show to simply Emmerdale they also renamed the village of Beckindale again calling it Emmerdale.

Watching the show these days you wouldn’t pick it as any different from Eastenders or Coronation Street something that long term fans of the show rue, it once had a special charm and that has now been lost. All too often these days it is sensationalistic for the sake of sensationalist and like all soaps the writers seem to think that two people shouting at each other constitutes drama. Having said that it still maintains a spot in our all time great list purely for it’s earliest years.

Some facts:- The first Emmerdale wedding was between that of Frank Blakey and Janie Harker in March 1973. The first death of course occurred in the first episode with the funeral of Annie’s husband Jacob. The first shop owner was Amy Postlethwaite who sold out to Alison Gibbons and Henry Wilks. Longest running policeman was Sergeant MacArthur. The vicar in Beckindale for the earliest years was the Reverend Ruskin but the longest serving was the Reverend Donald Hinton. Although the show is now very removed from its simple roots it remains one of the UK’s big three soaps behind Coronation Street and Eastenders.

Important cast members over the years have included :-

SHEILA MERCIER as Annie Sugden

ANDREW BURT as Jack Sugden(1)

CLIVE HORNBY as Jack Sugden(1980- )

FRAZER HINES as Joe Sugden

TOKE TOWNLEY as Sam Pearson

FREDERICK PYNE as Matt Skilbeck

JO KENDALL as Peggy Sugden/Skilbeck

ARTHUR PENTELOW as Henry Wilks

RONALD MAGILL as Amos Brearly

GAIL HARRISON as Marian Wilks(1)

LESLEY MANVILLE as Rosemary Kendall

KATHERINE BARKER as Dolly Skilbeck(1)

JEAN ROGERS as Dolly Skilbeck(2)

HELEN WEIR as Pat Merrick/Sugden

IAN SHARROCK as Jackie Merrick

JANE HUTCHESON as Sandie Merrick

STAN RICHARDS as Seth Armstrong

RICHARD THORP as Alan Turner

MALANDRA BURROWS as Kathy Bates

CHRIS CHITTELL as Eric Pollard

CLAIRE KING as Kim Tate

NORMAN BOWLER as Frank Tate

GLENDA MACKAY as Rachel Hughes

HUGH MANNING as Reverend Hinton

PETER AMORY as Chris Tate

LEAH BRACKNELL as Zoe Tate

PAULA TILBROOK as Betty Eggleton

BILLY HARTMAN as Terry Woods

STEVE HALLIWELL as Zak Dingle

JOHNNY LEEZE as Ned Glover

TONICHA JERONIMO as Linda Glover

SAMANTHA GILES as Bernice Blackstock

PAUL LOUGHRAN as Butch Dingle

JANE COX as Lisa Dingle

LISA RILEY as Mandy Dingle

MARK CHARNOCK as Marlon Dingle

PAULA TILBROOK as Betty Eagleton

STUART WADE as Biff Fowler

NICKY EVANS as Roy Glover

KELVIN FLETCHER as Andy Hopwood

SALLY WALSH as Lyn Hutchinson

LOUISE BEATTIE as Laura Johnstone

STEPHANIE SCHONFIELD as Stella Jones

DOMINIC BRUNT as Paddy Kirk

FREYA COPELAND as Angie Reynolds

STEPHEN McGANN as Sean Reynolds

SHEREE MURPHY as Tricia Stokes

VICTORIA BINNS as Ollie Reynolds

CHRISTOPHER SMITH as Robert Sugden

MADELEINE HOWARD as Sarah Sugden(1)

ALYSON SPIRO as Sarah Sugden(2)

JOHN MIDDLETON as Rev Ashley Thomas

ADELE SILVA as Kelly Windsor/Glover

DEENA PAYNE as Viv Windsor

PAULINE QUIRKE as Hazel Rhodes

SAMMY WINWARD as Katie Sugden

JASON MERRELLS as  Declan Macey

ARTICLES AND EPISODES

LATEST EPISODES LISTINGS