Alan Turner - Otherwise Known As!

Mr Bear in his den at NY Estates in 1986.

From the Sunday People, April 28, 1985:

FARM FUHRER

Emmerdale's awful Alan Turner may have acquired a reputation as a rural J.R. But his long suffering assistant Mrs Bates - actress Diana Davies - has her own way of describing him.

"He's a cross between Adolf Hitler and Pooh Bear - so I call him Adolf Bear."

Was Alan Turner A Groundbreaking Emmerdale Farm Character?

Groundbreaking Alan Turner.

Chris has been reading a soaps thread where controversy apparently reigns over whether or not Alan Turner was a "groundbreaking" Emmerdale Farm character. He asks:

What do you say?

Well, Chris, I've recently watched Turner's debut and I think he was groundbreaking. Trevor Thatcher, NY's first Beckindale manager, was not actually a "bad guy" - the "should Nellie Ratcliffe leave her cottage?" story-line was pure human interest - whose need was the greatest, hers or a current NY employee? Thatcher's successor, Maurice Westrop, was an old fashioned sweety (even at the time!), Richard Anstey, who took over in 1980, was every inch a businessman - but in no way "bad".

Alan Turner, however, was originally selfish, inefficient, glib-tongued and cold hearted. Watching him deal with Joe Sugden and the workers at NY Estates as redundancies were imposed in 1983, and the way he blackmailed John Tuplin, the shop steward, into going along with it, forcing John to betray his workmates... it was all pretty chilling.

Alan was the show's first long-running character who knowingly did wrong to others for his own ends. And although he mellowed, and although there was a great big lovable oaf trapped inside him, there was always that instinct for self preservation.

I can find nobody to compare to Alan Turner as a permanent Emmerdale Farm character before his debut.

I'm basing my thoughts about this on recent viewings of the episodes concerned.

I believe that the different facets revealed in Alan's character as he evolved also made him groundbreaking. No stereotype nasty businessman our Mr Turner, but a complex human being.

JR Ewing of the American soap Dallas was a brilliant, pantomime character. Alan Turner seemed real. When he hit rock bottom in late 1983, making a disastrous pass at his young secretary, and then being defeated by the computer newly installed at Home Farm, he had done nothing to endear himself to the Beckindale locals or us viewers. But there was something in Richard Thorp's performance, more than a hint of the hurt and the pathetic in Alan's character, that made me realise I actually cared about what happened to Mr Turner.

And I wanted him to be all right.

As for groundbreaking characters in soaps and TV drama in general... well... Emmerdale Farm began a long way in.

And true overall groundbreakers would probably be characters like rascally villager Walter Gabriel in radio soap The Archers, not Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale Farm, and so on.

There's "groundbreaking" within the confines of the show, and the broader picture.

But I think Richard Thorp was, and is, excellent.

And, as far as Emmerdale goes, groundbreaking to the max.

Viewers' Confusion - Taking Fiction For Fact...

1986 - Alan Turner teaches Mrs Bates to play bowls. Or so he thinks...

Back in the 1980s, some viewers were prone to getting soap fiction mixed up with reality. If you played a well-loved soap character, this could work to your advantage. But if not...

English actress Vivean Gray, Mrs Mangel in the Australian soap Neighbours, left the show when some viewers entered into the fantasy a little too much and treated her as though she was the character she played.

It could be seen as a tribute to her acting skills, but all the same!

In Emmerdale Farm, Richard Thorp also suffered as his at first disliked, figure-of-fun character Alan Turner, who arrived in 1982, upset the Beckindale locals. As seen in other posts on this blog, Richard Thorp suffered some abuse, and the article pictured below, from the Sun newspaper, August 26, 1989, reveals some problems he experienced at a public swimming pool.

Fortunately, Mr Thorp managed to deal with the problems and remain in Emmerdale Farm. For which I am truly grateful. As regular readers of this blog will already know, I was a great fan of the Alan Turner and Mrs Bates boss/secretary partnership at NY Estates from 1984-1988. The scenario was not planned, something just seemed to "click" between the two actors, but in an amazingly short amount of time Alan Turner and Mrs Bates were two of my favourite characters in the show.

An episode featuring Alan blustering and boasting away at the NY Estates office, whilst Mrs Bates smiled quietly to herself, seeing right through him to the wally inside, and Amos launching into a new fad at the Woolpack, to Mr Wilks' despair, is my idea of soap heaven!

They don't make 'em like that any more!

Emmerdale Farm In The 1980s - Reflecting Changing Times...

One of the great pleasures for me in watching episodes of Emmerdale Farm from the 1980s is seeing how the show reflected some of the tremendous changes the decade brought. One of my favourite scenarios involves the computerisation of NY Estates in late 1983. Each holding was allocated a computer, linked to Head Office.

Alan Turner took on an attractive new secretary with no experience of computers, simply because she was attractive. Sadly, she couldn't come to terms with the computer, and left in a state of great distress when Alan made advances to her.

Despite a two day training course organised by NY Estates, Alan was absolutely hopeless with the computer - and the repeated message flashed up in green writing on the screen - "OPERATOR ERROR PLEASE REPEAT LAST INSTRUCTION" drove the poor man to despair. As did Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards), who happened upon his boss struggling with the new marvel of technology, and, noting its resemblance to a television screen, asked if there was anything good on?

1989: Beckindale Gets Knitting - Again...

1989... the year Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the Berlin Wall came down, Acid House Raves rocked youth culture, Sky TV was launched and, over in America, Game Boy arrived...

And the year also brought a new knitting book from Emmerdale Farm, the first since 1983. Out came the needles across the land.

On the cover were Kate (Sally Knyvette) and Joe (Frazer Hines) Sugden. After a stormy relationship, they tied the knot in '89, but married life was not to be peaceful as Kate found her organic venture at Crossgill beset by slugs, and her daughter, Rachel (Glenda McKay) tumbled into an affair with married Pete Whiteley (Jim Millea).

A traumatic year for Dolly (Jean Rogers) and son Sam Skilbeck (Benjamin Whitehead), also on the knitting book cover, as the Skilbeck marriage finally broke up. For Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) there was irritation as Mr Wilks (Arthur Pentelow) developed hay fever and sneezed his way through the summer...

Evolution not revolution was the apparent intention of Emmerdale Farm producer Stuart Doughty, the man from Brookside, featured in the knitting book wearing a charming jumper. He took the producer's chair in 1988. His reign saw tense drama in Beckindale in 1989, and the arrival of the Tate family at Home Farm in November of that year.

1989 also saw the deletion of the word "Farm" from the show's title, as Doughty decided to begin dropping some of the farming content - and to reflect the fact that a lot of the show was not actually about the farm.

From a temporary bit-part in 1978, to full-time character status in 1980, Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards) spent quite a lot of 1989 baiting Amos Brearly. Situation normal.

Kathy Merrick (Malandra Burrows) - looking charming in a lovely '80s cardie. The poor girl faced the tragic loss of her husband, Jackie (Ian Sharrock) in 1989 - he accidentally shot himself whilst hunting a troublesome fox.

Amos and Mr Wilks - a stormy year at The Woolpack as Amos realised just how irritating Mr Wilks was (!!!!). He told Seth: "I cannot understand why I've never noticed before, he's got more irritating habits than anyone I've ever known - including you, Seth Armstrong!"

Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) - lovely cardie, but 1989 had it in for the man. His marriage to Dolly was at an end. Frederick Pyne recorded Matt's last scenes in November, and Matt was last seen on-screen in December.

Caroline Bates (Diana Davies) arrived as a temp secretary at NY Estates in 1984. She soon became permanent. Since his arrival in 1982, Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) had been making a proper pig's ear of things on the estate, and Mrs Bates was his saviour. Romance developed and, in 1989, the two planned to wed. But things didn't work out, and Mrs Bates left Beckindale, in tears, in November to look after her ailing mother in Scarborough.

Matriarch Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier). Her strength finally crumbled in 1989, and she found herself developing a dependency on tranquillisers. Recovering, she faced new heartache - businessman Denis Rigg's underhand attempts to buy the farm, and then the death of her grandson, Jackie.

Archie Brooks (Tony Pitts) - first turned up clutching a ghetto blaster and sporting a hairdo rather like David Sylvian's, of synth pop group Japan, in November 1983. He sported a very natty alphabet jumper for the knitting book in 1989, and temporarily departed from Beckindale in November to live with his mum when the old outbuilding he called home became too draughty.

Rewriting The Past: Alan Turner's Children

Confrontation at Home Farm in 1984 - Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) with Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards) and John Tuplin (Malcolm Raeburn).

Mike queries:

I seem to remember Terence Turner in the mid-1980s being very much younger than the (now late) Terence Turner of more recent years! Can you explain this?

Yes, Mike - history is often rewritten in soaps. I'm studying some episodes from 1983/1984 and in one 1983 episode Alan plainly states that he is having to find school fees for his two children. And, in 1985, Terence was, of course, dropping out of university!

Both Alan's children in the modern day Emmerdale serial were born somewhat earlier than the original versions.

This type of thing is common in soaps and has been for many years - previously unseen/minor/recurring characters in a regular character's background have their details tweaked to suit the dramatic needs of a programme. I recall similar things occurring in Coronation Street in the 1970s and 1990s, when the ages of the Barlow twins and Mike Baldwin's son, Mark, were tweaked to fit in with story-line ideas.

I'll reveal further information about Alan's family background in the 1980s as soon as I have it.

Terence Turner, the '80s version, played by Stephen Marchant.

1985: Diana Davies And Richard Thorp On Mrs Bates And Alan Turner...

"Well, he's a bit of a nasty person on the screen, but in real life he's quite likeable," said Diana Davies of Richard Thorp, as the pair were interviewed by Richard Whiteley for the Emmerdale Farm 1,000th episode TV special celebration in 1985. The "quite likeable" was said tongue in cheek - the two were in very jovial mood, and appeared to have an excellent rapport.

When Mrs Caroline Bates turned up as Alan's "temp" secretary in 1984, nobody suspected that this was the beginning of one of the show's best-loved comic partnerships. But with Mrs Bates ever-ready to see through Alan's bluster to the wally underneath, great fun was had by we lucky viewers.

And many of us actually began to like Alan as a result - which was a tremendous change as, since his arrival in 1982, he'd aroused feelings of irritation and even, sometimes, vehement dislike amongst viewers.

"You've taken a bit of stick in real life as the 'JR' figure, haven't you?" said Richard Whiteley to Richard Thorp on the 1,000th episode celebration programme.

"Yes, I have - and particularly at home," replied Richard Thorp. "My wife always insists Alan Turner leaves the room before she has a chance to chat to Richard Thorp!"

Richard Whiteley: "But I hear that when you go into restaurants, people have left the restaurants and taxi drivers wouldn't give you lifts?"

Richard Thorp: "Oh, yes, yes - 'Not you, you walk!' they say!"

Richard Whiteley: "What we all want to know, really, are you two going to get it together ever do you think?"

Richard Thorp (suddenly becoming Alan Turner): "That's down to you, Mrs Bates. I think you can answer that one."

Diana Davies: "Well, we don't know, we just think it's probably not a very good idea because it's good fun the way it is now."

Richard Whiteley: "What about just something for now on this special occasion?"

Diana Davies: "All right."

Richard Thorp, after the kiss, becoming Alan Turner again: "That's in lieu of a rise - you don't get everything for nothing!"

1983: Computers At NY Estates And Seth Armstrong's First Name...

Seth Armstrong "entertains" on the piano at the 1983 Beckindale Christmas Show.

In the summer of 1983, changes were afoot at NY Estates in Beckindale. The company was going computerised and each of its holdings would have a computer installed which would be linked to head office. Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) discovered that his secretary's hours would be cut from full-time to three days a week because of this.

And that wasn't all.

NY were seeking to make redundancies of around 50%, over a period of time.

Barbara Peters (Rosie Kerslake), Alan's secretary, ensured that the workforce, via Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards), got a look at the redundancies list. Alan had already told union rep John Tuplin (Malcolm Raeburn) that he was on the list, but that he needn't be. As union rep, John was in a position to cause major disruption. If he went with the flow and enabled the redundancies to be made without undue hindrance, Alan would ensure that John's name was taken off the list.

John hated what Alan was suggesting, but he had a wife and children to support.

Seth discovered that his name was on the list.

Jackie Merrick (Ian Sharrock) was curious to discover that "Armstrong: A.S." was the name listed.

What did the "A" stand for, he queried?

"It were just a name I were given. All't eldest lads 'ad it. I were never called by it," said Seth.

"Well, what's it for, then?" persisted Jackie.

"Archibald," said Seth.

Jackie was highly amused.

Seth was too devastated at the prospect of losing his job to pay much heed.

The Beckindale shoot had been operating at a loss, and NY wanted to abolish it, but Alan moved to save it, also saving Seth's job as gamekeeper.

Funnily enough, 1983 seemed to be the year of Archibalds in Beckindale - with Seth's secret christian name coming out, and Archie Brooks (Tony Pitts) making his first appearance!

Archie - nice hair, shame about the name...

Judy Westrop And Alan Turner...

Judy Westrop (Jane Cussons) - a signed photograph from 1980.

Two former inhabitants of Home Farm are the subject of e-mail enquiries this week.

Jez asks:

Did Judy Westrop ever return to the show?

Not as far as I know, Jez. Judy departed in the summer of 1980, and Beckindale saw no more of her. After a brief word of explanation from Dolly Skilbeck (Jean Rogers) about Judy's whereabouts (she had relocated to take up a new job) I don't think that she was ever mentioned again.

However, Judy's father, Maurice (Edward Dentith), who had departed from Beckindale in May 1980, was mentioned again. Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) criticised him and Richard Anstey (Carl Rigg), his predecessors as NY Beckindale managers, for not having the Turner drive and spark in 1982.

And that brings us neatly on to our second e-mail enquiry - this time from Brian:

Was Alan Turner really a swine right from the beginning?

Not really, Brian. In 1982, Alan seemed a bit of a silver-tongued, faintly devious smoothy. There were problems for Joe (Frazer Hines) as farm manager, particularly when cattle at Emmerdale stampeded after a helicopter spraying crops for NY flew too low - but this occurred because Joe had asked the pilot to spray some Emmerdale land as a favour - and was mainly due to a breakdown in communication between Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) and Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby). The cows were in the wrong field.

Alan blamed Joe for the incident - and, I think, he had a point. Doing favours for other farmers in this way could be risky, and Alan was furious when NY ended up paying Emmerdale compensation for the accident.

Another bone of contention was an area of land known by Henry Wilks (Arthur Pentelow) as "Primrose Dingle". Builders dumping debris here upset Mr Wilks, but it turned out that they were doing so under contract - a contract drawn up by Joe before Alan Turner arrived. However, the contract was for six weeks and the builders had well exceeded this - whilst Joe had simply stood by and let them.

Pat Sugden (Helen Weir), working as a clerk at NY briefly, was startled to see a steely side to Alan's nature when he criticised Joe to Head Office on the phone. Joe felt completely unsupported by Alan, and believed that Mr T was simply out for himself.

I certainly wouldn't call Alan a "nice" character in 1982, but there was far worse (and far better) to come. Things really began to get interesting when Alan brought home a young woman to Home Farm for a one night stand in early 1983 and we began to see his boozy, lecherous side. By the end of that year, we'd seen more of his deviousness, heard more of his silver tongue, and found the guy could be completely unfair and quite ruthless.

But we'd also seen sadness and vulnerability. And Richard Thorp's famous twinkle, beaming out from a face which, it seemed, couldn't possibly bear anybody any ill will, had begun to make us warm to the character.

Plus, the comic encounters with Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards) were well and truly kicking in.

And then, in 1984, came Mrs Bates (Diana Davies).

To sum up, Brian, I would say that Alan Turner's "JR" tag from 1982 until midway through the decade was a tremendous exaggeration.

But you'll be able to judge for yourself. We've got lots more Mr Turner material planned for the Bugle.

Thanks for writing.

1982: Ashes To Ashes

"Eighteen going on eight," was how my mother once described Jackie Merrick (Ian Sharrock).

It was late 1982 when Jackie Merrick torched the NY Estates caravan where he had lived since 1980.

Jackie was a troubled teen. Fashion-wise he was a disaster in those early years - several comments here have claimed that in real life he would have been ragged unmercifully by his mates for wearing out-dated clothes, and I think they may have a point. Some people have also pointed out that it was easy to see that actor Ian Sharrock was years older than Jackie as no self-respecting teen would have been seen dead looking like that - particularly by millions of people on television!

But in some ways it was fitting. Jackie was not the brightest lad in Beckindale, and since his mother had walked out on his "father", Tom, in 1980, his world had been turned upside-down. Bedding down into a job as Seth Armstrong's assistant at NY Estates was one of the best things to happen when he left school in 1981, but that was threatened when Jack (Clive Hornby) blurted out that he was Jackie's real father later in the year.

The resulting tumult, with Tom Merrick (Edward Peel) also having to come to terms with the fact, spilled over into 1982 and led Jackie to consider running away.

Things settled down, and Sandie (Jane Hutcheson) persuaded Jackie to make the run-up to Pat's wedding to Jack as happy as possible, and to attend the wedding with a smile on his face. Jackie did well, but after the briefest of stays at Emmerdale Farm whilst Pat and Jack enjoyed a couple of days away on their honeymoon, he moved back into the NY caravan that he'd occupied with his mother and half-sister since late 1980. The reason was a falling-out with Jack.

When Jackie turned eighteen in late 1982, Jack bought him a new gadget - a personal stereo. Pat (Helen Weir) thought the gift was a little OTT - they did seem posh and new-fangled in those days. Jackie was actually quite pleased with the gift, but kept a sullen upper lip.

The return of Jackie's old mate, Graham Jelks (Richard Tolan), on leave from the Army, and Graham's attempts to persuade Jackie to enlist, led the lad to the recruiting office.

There had been changes at NY Estates. The arrival of Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) as Beckindale manager in March 1982 had caused various headaches for Jackie. Despite protestations from Jackie's immediate boss, Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards), Alan would insist on Jackie being taken away from his primary tasks to do general labouring whenever the occasion demanded.

Joe Sugden (Frazer Hines), as farm manager, tried to smooth things out, but he was fighting a losing battle with Alan.

The crunch came when a shooting party on NY land, set up to impress a business contact of the company, turned out disappointingly. There were hardly any birds to shoot at. Jackie was in charge of the shoot and, due to his being frequently re-assigned to labouring tasks, plus a tendency to skive off and stand around yakking, had not prepared things properly.

Alan was furious and gave Jackie the sack.

Shortly before this, Jackie had heard he'd been accepted for the Army. Pat was convinced he didn't really want to go, and he certainly didn't seem happy at the prospect.

But then he rarely seemed happy at anything.

Having been sacked by Mr Turner, Jackie bought some beer and got drunk. He ranted to Sandie about the family's changing fortunes since 1980, declared the caravan a dump, and then torched it.

Sandie had been experiencing problems of her own. A couple of dates with the local vet (a man in his mid-20s!) had earned the 17-year-old girl the nickname "randy Sandie" at school. And now Andy Longthorn (Mark Botham) was once again looming large in her life. As the caravan blazed, she could only stare, horrified and scared out of her wits...

And Jackie certainly wasn't going into the Army now. He was in trouble.

Serious trouble.

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!

Why No Alan Turner?

Our Mr Turner enjoys a nice cuppa in 1986.

Hassan asks: Why no Alan Turner in your 1980 and 1981 reviews so far?

Because he didn't arrive in Beckindale until March 1982, Hassan. Apparently, the plan was to feature the character for a few months, then NY Estates was to pull out of Beckindale and Alan would leave. But, of course, his on-screen rapport with Stan Richards as Seth Armstrong ("GET OUT, SETH!") and a certain child-like vulnerability about Mr Turner's character, coupled with a warm smile and twinkling eye, ensured that the character stayed on. No cardboard villain, this!

There is quite a lot of Alan Turner material on this blog - click here - and I have prepared a little chart of 1980s NY Estates managers below.

Happy 2009 - And Welcome To 1984!

1984 always sounds ominous to me - also being the title of George Orwell's famous novel. Did you know that George Orwell took several years to write the book back in the 1940s, and that it was originally to be set in 1980, and then in 1982?

The real 1984 didn't see the arrival of Big Brother - it's more like that today with the various databases (established and planned) and security cameras logging our every move - but it did see the arrival of the Apple Mac - complete with affordable computer mouse. A revolution was beginning...

The UK edition of Trivial Pursuit arrived and we were trivia crazy. Sir Alec Jeffreys accidentally discovered DNA fingerprinting, at the University Of Leicester, England (More here). The miners fought a bitter, losing battle; Frankie Goes To Hollywood shocked the charts; the yuppie era was drawing in; V was on the telly and Do They Know It's Christmas? hit the No 1 spot. Agadoo was another chart favourite. Push pineapple, grind coffee? Hmm...

In the world of fashion, shoulder pads were getting bigger and bigger, people were streaking their hair blonde and using hair gel to very striking (or ugly, depending on your viewpoint) effect and moon boots were a must-have, as were Frankie Say T-shirts.

And so to Beckindale. What was 1984 like in the village? Well, a quick skim through some of the episodes reveals that Al Dixon as Walter (1980-1985) actually got to appear in the show's closing credits on at least one occasion...

Walter himself got a new hat at the village jumble sale, but Amos was not happy. "There's something rotten in the state of Beckindale!" he told Mr Wilks. What was Ernie Shuttleworth up to at the Malt Shovel?

Meanwhile, at Home Farm, Alan Turner was just having a row with Seth Armstrong when a woman appeared, telling him that she was the new "temp" secretary from the agency. Who was she? Can you guess?

One of the NY Estates bulls saw his chance and made a dash for freedom, causing problems for Jack Sugden...

And 1984 ended in tears. The death of actor Toke Townley meant the death of Sam Pearson. Annie, and in fact the whole of Beckindale, not to mention we viewers, mourned his passing in November...

To round things off, Jack began his affair with Karen Moore, which would spill over into 1985.

Our "Twenty Five Years Ago" series highlights 1984 in 2009. We'll also be giving 1981 a thorough looking at (Rubik's Cube, anybody?!) and presenting snippets from other years.

My thanks to Magnus, Will, Cerys, Squirrel K, Bryan, and others, for some very interesting e-mails/comments this year - and To Mrs Violet Howes for her Beckindale poem. Thanks also to Bill Sands for supplying some original YTV publicity stills, and to all those who took part in the competition.

See you in 2009! Or do I mean 1984?!

Happy New Year!

Sam Pearson And Alan Turner

Kazia asks:

The character of Sam Pearson died in November 1984, and Alan Turner arrived in March 1982. So the two overlapped. How did they get on?

It's interesting you should ask that, Kazia, as I've just started studying episodes from 1982. Alan has arrived, and Sam is saying very firmly to his detractors that Mr T is a gentleman.

I'll write more when I've viewed more.

1984 Request...

I've just received an e-mail from "Izzy":

Hi! I'm really enjoying your blog and the 1980 Month. I've been going through a really bad time recently and I've been really depressed. Emmerdale Farm in the 1980s contains so many fond memories.

It makes me smile to think of it, although sometimes it makes me cry even more. I wish we were back in those days because I was so much happier.

Please would you put on a picture of my two favourite Emmerdale characters, Alan and Caroline? I read in your blog that they first appeared in 1982 and 1984 respectively. It seems like yesterday!

Yes, it does, Izzy. Time flies! I'm sorry you're feeling down. I know it sounds like a cliché, but bear with it and the bad times will pass. I hope you like the pictures of Alan Turner and Mrs Bates from the mid-1980s, and thanks for writing.

Take care.

1985: Kathy And Nick Bates Arrive...

Having secured his secretary, Mrs Bates, accommodation in Beckindale after the break-up of her marriage to Malcolm, Alan Turner was delighted to accept an invitation to dinner from her. He arrived punctually, all spruced up and clutching a magnificent bouquet, with hopes for the evening which went way beyond the planned menu of his hostess...

So, imagine his shock and dismay when Mrs Bates' door was answered by two youngsters, who introduced themselves as Kathy and Nick and explained that Mum was still upstairs, but that they had been instructed to make him welcome.

Having envisaged an evening alone with Mrs Bates, and having had no idea that her children were living with her, Alan was terribly disappointed. Faintly stroppy and terribly crestfallen, he thrust the bouquet at Kathy - "These are for your mother!"

This was the first appearance in Emmerdale Farm of Cy Chadwick as Nick and Malandra Burrows as Kathy.

Terence Turner

From the Emmerdale Farm Celebration Edition 1000 Episodes magazine, 1985:

Terence Turner arrived on his father's doorstep in April this year having been sent down from Oxford where he was studying agriculture. Far too sophisticated, he feels, for a farming career. Terence has been trying to make his fortune ever since with a series of unlikely schemes such as "home-made" lime pickle and rock climbing. He is currently working on a dry ski slope project. Arrogant and lazy, Terence can nevertheless be amusing when he wishes, and he's recently been going out with Sandie Merrick, much to the consternation of the Sugden family.

Stephen Marchant (Terence Turner):

The other day Stephen Marchant was standing in Boots, innocently queing to buy a tube of toothpaste, when a young girl rushed over and spat at him: "I hate you!"

The other shoppers politely glanced away, assuming it was some lover's tiff, but Stephen had never seen the girl before and in fact she wasn't even talking to him. Her venom was intended for Terence Turner, Alan Turner's unpleasant son.

Stephen Marchant and the arrogant smoothie Terence have very little in common. Unlike Oxford-educated Turner, Stephen is an East Ender who left school as soon as he could for a series of dead-end jobs. He went to America and worked for a time as a DJ on an American radio station. Then he returned to England and has spent the last five years working in theatre in Bristol.

"If I wasn't an actor I'd work in conservation or some form of ecology," says Terence.

Out riding...

In late 1985, Terence was in charge of organising the shoots at Home Farm. But Alan wasn't happy. Terence's presence in the office at NY Estates was a thorn in Alan's side - and also Mrs Bates's. As she told Alan, she didn't quite know who her boss was!

Terence had a habit of putting his foot in it and, discussing the menu for an upcoming Shoot with Mrs Bates, spouted: "Now, what about a wine? Don't get any of that awful plonk the old man blew his money on!" Of course, he was totally unaware that his father was in the room. Until it was too late.

At the Woolpack, Terence chatted up newcomer Kathy Bates: "I'm on my own. You're on you're own. I fancy you. Well, if you fancy me let's get back to Home Farm, put some sounds on very loud and er... we'll get something together. I think you know what I mean."

Kathy basically told him that she wasn't interested. And she told him that what the locals said about him was quite wrong: "Pillock's nowhere near it!"

Terence moved over to the bar and tried to get back in Sandie's good books. He invited her back for a "nightcap". "Thanks, Terry," said Sandie, who had overheard his conversation with Kathy. "But I'd only be in the way!"

Terence was puzzled: "Sorry?"

"Well, I thought Kathy Bates would be there?"

"Very funny!" and Terence left the pub.

Sandie told Jackie that she didn't really know how she had ever liked Terence.

"This village is really starting to get on my nerves," said Terence to his father back at Home Farm.

Despite his differences with his son, Alan was greatly looking forward to having him at home over the festive season.

"Well, it'll be all right over Christmas," he replied. "I thought we might have a bit of a party. You know, nothing lavish - a sort of in loco Lord of the Manor do."

Terence broke the news that he would not be in Beckindale for Christmas: a friend had phoned, he had rented a cottage in Ireland over the festive season - "with plenty of booze and a bit of skirt", and had invited Terence to join him. Terence eagerly anticipated being saved from a "celibate Christmas".

Alan was downcast: "You've made up your mind?"

"Nothing to keep me here, is there?" asked Terence.

"No. No, I suppose not."

After Terence had retired to bed, Alan switched off the Christmas tree lights and retired to his own room, his plans for the festive season in tatters.