Monday 17 December 2007

1987 - A Vintage Year...

From the TV Times, 18-24 April 1987. A great year for Emmerdale Farm with the famous storyline about a proposed nuclear waste dump near the village. Excellent. Modern day soap opera doesn't go near issues like this, but in the 1980s the genre broke new ground and the nuclear storyline was a proud moment in the history of Emmerdale Farm.

Protester Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) was arrested and the scene where the villagers gathered as the church bell tolled chilled my blood. First class drama.

Plans for the dump were abandoned.

And to add to the rich storyline brew, there was Eric Pollard, who had arrived on the scene in 1986 and was causing quite a lot of disruption in 1987...
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Actor Christopher Chittell knew he was doing a good job as hard, vengeful Eric Pollard in "Emmerdale Farm" when his mother-in-law started calling him less than complimentary names. Pollard has lost his job as auctioneer at Hotton Market for allegedly having his hand in the till. He blames Sandie Merrick (Jane Hutcheson) for telling Joe Sugden (Frazer Hines) that he was a crook.
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Says Chittell: "Pollard becomes very poisonous indeed. He's a Jekyll-and-Hyde character, and can become lunatic in his Hyde mood. I went home to Newark the other day and my mother-in-law called me a swine. My wife, Caroline, and two children, Benjamin and Rebecca, have just moved near her from Dartmouth. Now, because of Pollard, she's suggesting we move back again."

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