As Emmerdale celebrates its 40th anniversary, Dani Garavelli looks back at the many explosive storylines that have given the iconic soap its suds
ONCE upon a time, when Emmerdale Farm was inhabited by ruddy-faced yokels with an extensive line in Yorkshire patois, the only event likely to shatter the routine of tea-swilling and mucking out t’barns was a ewe going into early labour. More bucolic than a Thomas Hardy novel, the soap – which was on in the early afternoon (after Pipkins and Crown Court) – revolved around the lives of the Sugden family and featured much clucking of hens and revving up of tractors.
How things have changed. Over the years the clanking of agricultural machinery has given way to the sound of young couples squabbling over their Agas and the once weathered population has been glammed up with a spattering of lean but faintly sinister young men and shapely WAG-ish women, who jump in and out of each other’s beds as the plot demands; sort of like Skins with Hunter wellies, or Hollyoaks with actual trees.
Ever since the notorious plane crash of 1993, which saw the population of the village plummet (as the ratings soared), the community has rivalled Midsomer as a hotbed of nefarious goings-on; from adultery to arson, from deception to drug dealing, Emmerdale has seen it all. While The Archers continues to grapple with essentially rural issues - the vaccination of badgers against bovine tuberculosis for example - Emmerdale has tackled rape, homosexuality, mental illness, assisted suicide and most recently saviour siblings, head-on.
On Wednesday, the programme’s 40th anniversary will be celebrated in accordance with soap law with an explosive one-hour live episode that will include two weddings, two births (neither of them involving sheep) and the shock death of a much-loved character. It’s a tall order. While 50 per cent of Coronation Street’s 50th anniversary live edition was filmed in a studio, almost all of Emmerdale’s will be on location in a purpose-built village, constructed on the Harewood estate in Leeds after tourists flocking to Esholt (where it was shot for more than 20 years) made filming difficult. “On a dark October night on a windy hill, what could possibly go wrong?” as producer Stuart Blackburn put it before announcing his move to Coronation Street last week.
Because Emmerdale’s studio is eight miles away, the venture has involved moving generators, costumes and catering equipment to the site – not to mention the 27 cameras controlled in the giant scanner truck used to broadcast the Olympic opening ceremony. And because producers wanted some of the scenes to be shot in the iconic Woolpack, they’ve had to recreate the pub for the first time.
In its bid to be down with the kids, the soap has also created its own music festival, which kicked off the 40th anniversary celebrations last week. Performing at the event were The Proclaimers and Scouting for Girls, whose drummer Peter Ellard waged a campaign to secure a cameo appearance on the programme and who describes himself as the biggest Emmerdale fan in the world.
To be fair, Jenny Godfrey could give him a run for his money. The chair of the 1,000-strong Emmerdale fan club, she has been watching since the very first episode, which centred on the ripples caused by the death of farm owner Jacob Sugden. Working shifts at Gatwick Airport, Godfrey was free in the early afternoon and was hooked from the start. “I fell in love with it. It was set against the backdrop of rural Yorkshire and centred on the lives of a farming family,” she says. “I am from the countryside originally, so that was a draw. But I think those from the city enjoy the escapism of the beautiful landscape too.”
For the first 17 years of its existence the soap was known as Emmerdale Farm and was pioneering in the sense that it required outside broadcasting units, then still in their infancy. Aficionados like Godfrey have fond memories of early characters who, to the outside observer, would have been just at home in Royston Vasey as Beckindale (as the village was then called). There was Amos Brearly, the dour landlord with mutton chops to rival Donald Findlay’s, the Rev Donald Hinton, with his butterfly collection, and, a little later, Seth Armstrong, the poacher-turned-gamekeeper with a woolly hat and handlebar moustache.
“I think the reason the soap was popular back then is it was the sort of thing grannies could watch with their grandchildren and not be embarrassed – there wasn’t a lot of sex in it – if there was it was innuendo and eye movement. It was so genteel and very British,” says soap expert Chris Stacey.
There were moments of high drama even then – in 1973 Sharon Crossthwaite was strangled. But it wasn’t until EastEnders and Brookside were feeding viewers a twice-weekly diet of death and destruction that Emmerdale started upping the ante, with car crashes, armed robberies and arson attacks.
“These days I would compare Emmerdale to an American daytime soap – over the years they have become bolder, but the viewer still knows what to expect – it does what it says on the tin. That’s why it has endured,” Stacey says.
This week, the mayhem is set to continue; neither of the aforementioned weddings – Katie and Declan/ Chas and Dan – is likely to run smoothly, what with Declan’s half-sister Megan gunning for him and Chas being blackmailed by Carl and in love with Cameron whose girlfriend Debbie is pregnant (are you with me so far?). Then there’s the births – Debbie needs to harvest her baby’s stem cells to save her dying daughter and Gennie, well, she’s a bridesmaid so sudden onset of labour could be tricky. As for who’s going to get the chop, the internet is buzzing with speculation. Could it be Carl, big softy Paddy or longest-serving female character Betty?
Like all soaps, viewing figures for Emmerdale have fallen since its heyday. Peaking at 16.8 million during the plane crash episode, they now stand at just over 6m - generally lower than EastEnders and Coronation Street, but higher than Casualty.
Godfrey, who lives in St Albans, and being a more avid viewer than most, will, of course, be glued to the screen next week. “It’s very exciting – 40 years is such a milestone and a live episode is always exciting for the viewer, the cast and the production crew. I just hope it doesn’t rain,” she says.
With the script written and rehearsals held, the show has to be shot in its current format come hell or high water, so producers will have their eyes fixed on the weather reports. If the teaser is to be believed, however, it’s going to be a stormy few days on the Yorkshire Dales – whatever the barometer predicts.
• The one-hour long live episode will be shown at 7pm on Wednesday on ITV1. Emmerdale Uncovered – a post-show analysis involving “super fans” – will be shown at 8.30pm on Wednesday on ITV2. A five-part documentary – 40 years Of Emmerdale – begins at 8.30pm on Thursday on ITV1