1981: Brothers At War - With Each Other - And Joe Lives In Hope...

Caught between the warring Sugden brothers (Frazer Hines and Clive Hornby), Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) longed for a peaceful life.

There was an outbreak of food poisoning at The Woolpack in late 1981. Amos had made a rabbit pie, from a rabbit given to himself and Mr Wilks by Seth Armstrong. He'd borrowed Annie's recipe book, and the pie was (apparently) a culinary delight. But very soon after it was eaten, the colly-wobbles set in. Seth's rabbit was, it seems, the chief suspect.

As Amos and Mr Wilks were not up to the evening session, kindly Dolly Skilbeck offered to step in and look after the bar for a while. This left her husband Matt alone at a quiet table in the pub with Jack and Joe Sugden. The table was not quiet for long.

Joe was in high spirits: Richard Anstey had gone from NY Estates, gone from Beckindale. Joe had enjoyed his time working with Richard, but the last few months had been fraught. Richard's affair with Virginia Lattimore, wife of NY regional manager Derek, had rather shocked Joe - particularly when he'd discovered the couple openly kissing outside Home Farm.

A wrangle over a pig unit hadn't helped: Joe wanted a unit for NY's Beckindale holding, having visited Lincoln and seen one in action, Richard was opposed to the idea on several grounds - not least that it would give Derek Lattimore reason to visit Home Farm more often to oversee the new development.

And Derek was growing suspicious that Richard and his wife were having an affair.

The languid and lovely Virginia Lattimore (Wanda Moore) shared intimate moments with Richard Anstey (Carl Rigg) at Home Farm in the 1980s.

Richard was also beginning to think that Joe was a bit of a bumpkin at times: "This is big business, Joe, not Emmerdale Farm!" he exploded on one occasion.

Tensions grew, Richard felt that Joe had plotted against him when the decision was taken over his head to start a pig unit at the Beckindale NY operation. He was finally told by NY chief Christopher Meadows to leave.

Joe was sorry to see Richard go, but Richard found it hard to believe that Joe hadn't plotted his downfall, with one eye on his own main chance.

Christopher Meadows asked Joe to take over the Beckindale holding as temporary manager for a few months - and who knows, perhaps he could apply for the position on a permanent basis? NY was apparently very pleased with Joe's work. Joe was thrilled.

But Jack was not so. In The Woolpack, with poor old Matt playing piggy-in-the-middle, Jack told Joe in no uncertain terms that he may be king of one castle, but if he thought he was going to be king of two (NY and Emmerdale Farm) he had another think coming!

The evening ended on a very stormy note.

But never mind. Joe had temporary promotion at NY, and could look forward to a possible permanent manager's post.

Christopher Meadows had been so encouraging.

As 1981 moved towards 1982, Joe decided that he would apply for the post.

But whether he would get it or not, well, who knows?

Emmerdale Spoiler Pics - 1980s Style!

Back in the 1980s, the process of providing "spoilers" for Emmerdale Farm - and in fact all other soaps and TV programmes was rather different. For a start, the World Wide Web wasn't invented until March 1989 (more here) and not up and running until the early 1990s. So, the Internet was a mystery to the vast majority of us and a very different place to today.

In those prehistoric days, TV companies sent out photographs via snail mail to relevant publications - newspapers and listing magazines, with some blurb pasted to the back giving details of the actors and characters pictured, the programme date, and a little teaser about what was going on. The photograph above shows Amos Brearly embarking on his first story-line of the 1980s, and the blurb on the back read:

FULL ITV NETWORK (except STV/WTV/CHA) Tuesday, JANUARY 8, 1980.

STV Wednesday, JANUARY 9, 1980

WTV/CHA Thursday, January 10, 1980 } times vary, all early evening

Amos turns his hand to poetry in the new series of

"EMMERDALE FARM"

Mine Host at the Woolpack, Amos Brearly (RONALD MAGILL -right), finds the Curate, the Rev. Bob Jerome (RICHARD HOWARD), very non-committal when he presents him with his masterpiece of poetry for the parish magazine. An amusing moment from the opening episode of the new series of Yorkshire Television's dales serial, "EMMERDALE FARM".

A 1987 "spoiler":

EMMERDALE FARM EPISODE 1201 THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12 1987 AT 7 P.M.

It's Seth's birthday and plans are afoot for a surprise party down at the Woolpack. Seth just thinks all the whispering is people talking about him behind his back. But no-one knows how old the errant gamekeeper is - and Seth certainly isn't letting on.

Press contact: Katy Turner (0532) 438283 Ext 3065

1981: A Deaf Man In Beckindale...

In the summer of 1981, a young man called Nicholas Houghton (played by David Gillies) arrived in Beckindale to restore a 9th century cross unearthed in St Mary's churchyard, and to make a plinth so that the cross could be displayed in the church.

The Reverend Donald Hinton was surprised to discover that Mr Houghton was deaf. Nicholas was, however, an expert lip reader, and detected much else via sight. He even knew when the vicarage door bell was rung, due to a brief distracted glance from Donald. When Donald walked up behind Nicholas whilst he was working on the cross in the churchyard, Nicholas turned to greet him, saying he knew he was there because of the shadow the vicar cast on the ground.

At The Woolpack, Amos was fascinated by the visitor, who had saved him from a hefty plumbing bill after repairing a leaking cistern (Amos had already sought to repair it and managed to cause a flood, but that's another story!).

Amos was used as the voice of ignorance in the story-line. He spoke to Mr Wilks about Nicholas:

"I cannot get over it, Mr Wilks - I can't believe as that man is deaf. He seems just like an ordinary human being!"

Henry was perturbed: "Well he is an ordinary human being!"

"I know. Well, I know in't way you mean and I reckon you ought to know in't way I mean, no offence intended!"

"None taken - I was just trying to make..."

Amos broke in and got himself in a verbal twist - as he so often did: "I mean no offence intended to him! By saying what I said, which might 'a' been taken as meaning summat what I didn't mean, but which is true any road, 'cos deaf folk aren't normal, are they?"

"Well, of course they are!" cried Henry. "They can't hear, that's all. You wouldn't say a one-legged man weren't normal, would you?"

"I certainly would! Men are s'posed to have two legs!"

Henry sighed. "Yes they are. But a one-legged man is a perfectly normal man who's just lost a leg, you don't treat him like an idiot because of it, do you?"

"I don't treat anyone that way!" said Amos, highly offended.

Before Nicholas left Beckindale, Donald Hinton spoke to him:

"I suppose there's no way... nothing can be done to get your hearing back? I would like to help."

"To make people understand - that would be the greatest help," said Nicholas. "I'm deaf, yes - I wish I could hear. I wish I could make people understand the way deaf people feel. The kind of world we have to live in. But I'm lucky. I can speak. I can read. I have work. There are far more deaf people that I know of that have none of the compensations I have. If you want to help me, try and make the world understand about them."

1982: The Arrival Of Alan Turner - Saviour Of NY Estates!!

Joe Sugden was setting up a pig unit and expecting his first delivery on Alan Turner's first day at NY Estates in 1982. "So I'm arriving at the same time as fifty pigs, am I? I hope that's not ominous!" said Alan.

The SAVIOUR of NY Estates? Alan Turner?! Well, yes, he was! The NY Estates Beckindale operation would have been wound up in 1982 if it hadn't been for our Mr T! The show's production team felt that the NY story-line had run its course and it was time for changes.

Richard Thorp expected to be in Emmerdale Farm for six months:

"But I got such a rapport going, first with Stan Richards as Seth Armstrong, and later with Diana Davies, who played Alan's secretary, Mrs Bates, that the powers that be liked it and kept it."

Of course, NY Estates was gone before the end of the 1980s - but Alan Turner remains in Emmerdale to this day!

1981: Mr Wilks - The Red Indian!

Dolly Skilbeck took her role as head of the Beckindale playgroup very seriously, and had no hesitation in going to Henry Wilks, who had become parish councillor for Beckindale in 1981, when it seemed maintenance was needed at the village hall, where the playgroup was held.

The rent the playgroup paid, which hadn't been raised in years, was increased slightly and some of the major work was carried out. But Dolly still wasn't happy. When a little girl scraped her knee slightly on a nail sticking up out of the floor, Dolly determined to get Henry on-side. The general opinion in Beckindale was that the village was not getting a fair deal out of the rates - in comparison to larger places like Hotten.

Dolly invited Henry to spend some time at the playgroup. At first he was sceptical: children did scrape their knees, and the hall looked fine to him. He spent several hours at the playgroup, getting involved in face painting and reading stories to the children. By the end of it, he was so taken with the playgroup and the children that, although he still didn't see why Dolly was so up in arms, he vowed his support to her.

Dolly was very pleased with herself for seeing the issue through, and even more so when money was provided to carry out the repairs.

Mr Wilks left the playgroup in a great hurry on the day of his visit, realising that he would be late back at The Woolpack, and not wanting to incur the wrath of Amos.

But laughter not frowns greeted his arrival at the pub: he's forgotten to remove his face paint and head dress!

Arthur Pentelow at the Corner Shop, Esholt, in the 1980s. Always a tempering influence on Amos (particularly necessary during Amos' manic-to-the-max '80s era), Mr Wilks was one of Beckindale's best-loved villagers, and a huge favourite with viewers of Emmerdale Farm.

Roxy Music - Some Things Last Forever - At Least In Soapland...

Archie gets funky to Roxy in 1984.

Picture the scene: it's the late 1970s and Suzie Birchall and Gail Potter of Coronation Street are working at Mike Baldwin's fashion shop, The Western Front. Mike wanted teenage girls to staff the shop as he thought they would, hopefully, know what the punters were "in to".

Oddly, Gail and Suzie often used to play severely out-of-date music, like Roxy Music's early '70s stuff, in the shop. Not something I ever heard when Sue, my older cousin, dragged me around real fashion shops in the late '70s...

Picture the scene: it's the mid-1980s, the setting is Tarrant, home of the boating saga Howards' Way, and local teens, wearing very "trendy" ripped clothes are having a boogie... to early '70s Roxy Music. That never happened at any disco I attended back then! (Incidentally, they followed it by hoofing it up to mid-'80s Robert Palmer - PURLEASE!!)

Picture the scene: it's Howards' Way, a fashion shoot, and the background music is a Bryan Ferry track from the mid-1980s...

Picture the scene: it's Beckindale, December 1984, and Archie and the local teens are listening to a Roxy Music compilation LP, including early '70s groover Love Is The Drug, and 1980 sensation Midnight Hour.

Picture the scene: it's the next day at Emmerdale Farm and Jack Sugden is doing the farm accounts and listening to the radio, which just happens to be belting out Roxy Music's 1980 hit, The Same Old Scene.

Picture the scene, it's Tarrant again...

I won't go on. But Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry tracks seemed to crop up an awful lot in our '70s and '80s serials. Much as I love the group and Mr F, and aware as I am that the group and Bryan Ferry as a solo artist had chart hits from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, they seemed to crop up more than was natural, particularly when it came to scenes involving teenagers - who might more realistically have been listening to The Fall or the latest synth epic.

I know there were copyright issues and Emmerdale Farm in the 1980s did make an effort to be modern, including snatches of Party Fears Two, Like To Get To Know You Well, various Sade hits, and Relax. I suppose Roxy/Bryan Ferry must have had an arrangement with UK telly producers which made their music an attractive proposition, but the band's back catalogue cropping up in two separate scenarios in one episode of Emmerdale Farm in 1984 did seem to be straining credibility more than a little!

"Ooh, Jack, not this bunch again - let's switch it off!"

Amos: When True Love Was Crushed By A Crushed Ukulele

Was Amos ever in love as a young man, asks Cerys? Well, yes, perhaps! Of course, he asked Annie Sugden to marry him in an early episode, but that was purely for practical reasons - and he wasn't exactly young at the time. However, in 1982, he revealed a tragic story to Mr Wilks...

"I might 'a' married Gillian Partridge. Aunt Emily thought I should 'a' done."

"Who were Gillian Partridge?" asked Mr Wilks.

"Oh, very talented, Mr Wilks, very talented!" said Amos. "You've not seen her like this side 'a' Bridlington!"

"Mmm, sounds very impressive - what did she do?" asked Mr Wilks.

"George Formby impersonations," said Amos.

"Oh dear!" Mr Wilks began to chuckle. Even Walter was smiling. But then neither was what you might call sensitive.

"She'd 'a' won that talent contest - if Uncle Arthur 'adn't sat on her ukulele!" continued Amos. "It were all his fault. He ruined what were likely to be a very fruitful relationship!"

And so, it seems, Amos' youthful dreams of romance were crushed.

Just like Gillian's ukulele.

Sheila Mercier - In Appreciation

Sheila Mercier as Annie Sugden made a brief return to Emmerdale as a tribute to Clive Hornby last week. And for fans of Emmerdale, new as well as old, it was a great pleasure to see her on-screen. From being parched for a cup of tea, to fixing Eric Pollard with a glare, and talking good sense to her family, Annie was as wonderful as ever. And it was good to see her with Richard Thorp - now the longest running regular cast member as Alan Turner (I've just been watching his debut episodes from 1982 - seems like yesterday!).

Many thanks to Sheila. Her appearance was a tremendous tribute to Clive Hornby, and a great treat for us viewers.

Tim Fee To Retire

Timothy J Fee began work on Emmerdale Farm as unit manager in 1988, then became Production Supervisor. In the 1990s, his job title was upgraded to Production Controller. He was given the new title of "Line Producer" in February 2002. Here's a brief Emmerdale Tim Timeline:

1988: Begins work on Emmerdale (Farm) as Unit Manager - Sheila Mercier mentions this as his original job title in her autobiography, Annie's Song (1994)

1989: Tim is listed as "Production Supervisor" in the closing credits of a November episode I have on disc.

1994: Sheila Mercier refers to Tim's role as "Production Supervisor" in her autobiography.

1996: Listed as "Production Controller" in the closing credits of several episodes I have on disc from that year.

February 2002: Job title changed to Line Producer - discovered on-line:

Yorkshire TV executives have also announced that Tim Fee, Emmerdale's production controller is being given the new title of line producer to recognise even more fully 'his importance to the smooth running of Emmerdale'. 'As anyone who works on Emmerdale knows, Tim is at the heart of all that goes on there and played a key part in the smooth transition to five episodes a week,' says John Whiston.
...
Says Tim, who has worked on Emmerdale for 12 years: 'I'm thrilled to be supporting Steve in his new role and look forward to even more Emmerdale success, after taking the show to five-times-a-week with Kieran.' 'With the combination of Tim and Steve both Keith and myself are not just confident but excited about the future for Emmerdale and know that we've got a great team to take the show on from the excellent state that Kieran left it in,' says John Whiston.

http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Fee_Tim_32935649.aspx

(scroll down!)

Sheila Mercier wrote fondly of Tim in her autobiography, Annie's Song (1994):

"He has such a sunny disposition that it rubs off on everyone."

From all of us here at The Beckindale Bugle, we wish you a long and happy retirement, Tim!

The Funeral Of Jack Sugden - Farewell To An Emmerdale Favourite

Click on image for details. Clive Hornby debuted as Jack Sugden on 19 February 1980. The character's funeral will be featured in this week's episodes of Emmerdale on ITV1. See all our Clive Hornby/Jack Sugden information here.

1980: Clive Hornby - First Scenes As Jack Sugden

With the funeral of Jack Sugden to be featured in Emmerdale next week, and Sheila Mercier making a brief return as Annie Sugden, I've had several enquiries about Clive Hornby's debut as Jack back in 1980. So, I've opened my 1980 folder and discovered these pics and details.

Clive's first scene as Jack was outside the farm.

He took a long look at the exterior of his family home, and then made his way to the kitchen door...

Jack's grandfather, Sam Pearson (Toke Townley), answered the door and, with a wink at Jack, said:

"Oh, Annie, it's the man from the travelling library!"

"Eh? They're not coming round door-to-door now, are they?" Annie was highly puzzled.

"Just trying to encourage more people to read, Mrs Sugden!" said Jack, stepping over the threshold.

Annie was delighted: "Jack! You're early! You were gonna phone! I was gonna come to meet you!"

Jack: "I 'ad to walk it, Ma."

Annie: "Oh! Nothing's ready, you know!"

Sam: " 'Course it is! Been ready for ages!"

Annie: "I didn't expect you to walk in like that! Oh, it's good to see you! You look well, I'll say that for you. Welcome home, lad!"

Sam: "Aye, welcome back, lad!"

More to follow on Jack's funeral at the weekend. In the meantime, for all those interested in Clive Hornby's opening decade as Jack Sugden, please look at our 'Jack Sugden' label here.