Clive Hornby

Clive Hornby as Jack Sugden in 1983.

I am saddened to hear of the death of actor Clive Hornby, Jack Sugden in Emmerdale Farm.

Mr Hornby was the second actor to play Jack and first appeared in the role on 19 February 1980.

Down to earth Jack was much-loved, Mr Hornby stamped his own warm and natural acting style on the character, which had formerly been portrayed as a bit of an outsider and trendy bohemian in the show's early days.

My sympathies to Mr Hornby's family.

As a tribute to Clive Hornby, I am declaring August at Back To Beckindale "1980 Month". We shall then return to the year of Mr Hornby's debut in Beckindale to look at the events and characters of the time - including, of course, the return of Jack Sugden.

Walter Altered - And Others Too!

I always thought that a change of actor was preferable to a death in Beckindale. Because of actors and actresses leaving, we saw several tragedies in the '70s and '80s which began to make the Sugdens seem just a little too tragic!

In 1972, the show began with the funeral of Jacob Sugden, and the following year his daughter, Peggy, died suddenly - as actress Jo Kendall had decided to leave the show. Recasting would have been perfectly acceptable in this fledgling serial, but it was not something English TV soaps were very "into" at that time - Coronation Street appeared to have set the standard there! The Skilbeck twins, Sam and Sally, were killed off in 1976 in a most appalling manner - killed in an accident at a level crossing, which was obviously a way of doing away with a loose thread from the Peggy/Matt marriage, and winning viewers.

In the 1980s, both Pat Sugden and Jackie Merrick died tragically when the actors playing the roles left the show.

And so the Sugdens built up a grim saga of tragedy - for purely off-screen reasons.

Sometimes, central characters were recast - although very rarely were they residents of Emmerdale Farm itself. But in 1980, the improbable happened twice...

From the Yorkshire Evening Post supplement Emmerdale Farm 1,000! - 1985.

HELLO DOLLYS

"Emmerdale" has had four "doubles" in the cast, but the mos startling lookalikes have been Jean Rogers, the present Dolly, and Katharine Barker, the original one.

Dolly Skilbeck is expecting her second youngster - much to the delight of Jean Rogers, who plays Matt's pretty wife.

Jean just loves kids. She's a proud off-screen mum to Jeremy, 17, and Justin, 14.

And on screen, it's difficult to believe that she's not the real mother of Benjamin Whitehead, the little boy who takes the part of Dolly's son, Sam.

It's a relationship which Jean has worked hard at ever since three-year-old Ben joined the series as a baby.

One of her secrets was getting to know Ben's parents, Richard and Susan Whitehead, who own a butcher's shop in Otley.

And the Whiteheads took to Jean so much they asked her to become Ben's godmother.

Jean, who is divorced, goes to playgroup with Ben and his real mum and has become deeply involved in promoting the Pre-school Playgroups Association.

"Ben and I know each other well so now he acts perfectly naturally when he's in a scene with me," says Jean.

"The rest of the cast, too, make an effort to know him and win his confidence, which makes filming a lot easier."

Ben is so relaxed, that unlike some children, he doesn't mind if his mum isn't around on the set.

She goes off into another room and watches her son in action on a monitor.

Viewers can look forward to some authentic scenes when the new addition to the Skilbeck family comes along.

Sam's arrival was heralded as a great acting achievement for Jean, who said she just relied on her unforgettable experiences while giving birth to her own children.

"I think I gave the acting performance of my life that day," says Jean. "I let my mind go back to my own children's births and practically lived through them again.

"At the end I was quite exhausted. The nurse said I'd been so convincing she felt she should be handing me a new-born baby.

"And one cameraman was so overcome by my gasps, straining and cries, he felt ill and had to rush off for a glass of water!"

[Andy's note: Actress Helen Weir, Pat Sugden in Emmerdale Farm, became pregnant in real life at the time of the Dolly pregnancy storyline. Helen's pregnancy was written into the plot, and, sadly, there was room for only one baby on set, so Dolly's screen pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.]

A PAIR OF JACKS

The original Jack Sugden was played by Andrew Burt. The call of literature led to Jack cutting his ties with Emmerdale Farm and floating off to Rome to write a book of poetry.

However, Annie Sugden's elder son returned to the fold in the shape of Clive Hornby and revived his interest in the land... only to land the family with a few problems born of Jack's single-mindedness.

Andrew Burt, after leaving the series, went on to play many other TV roles.

So, two of the central characters up at the farm were boldly recast in 1980! Around and about the village, the Yorkshire Evening Post Emmerdale Farm 1,000th episode supplement noted a couple of other face changes...

TOM TOM

The two actors who played the roguish Tom Merrick have also portrayed characters on the right side of the law. Edward Peel, the first Tom, is now to be seen as Chief Inspector Perrin in "Juliet Bravo", and Jack Carr, the second Tom Merrick who did a stretch in jail, played a police sergeant in "Coronation Street".

Merrick, who has disappeared again, probably to the oil rigs, is the father of Sandie and for a long time thought he was Jackie's Dad until it was revealed Jack Sugden had sired him in a long-ago affair with Pat.

[Andy's note: Tom was also played by actor David Hill in the show's early days. ]

Walter altered

Another "double", of course, was the two Walters....

Geoffrey Hooper was the original silent*, bar-propping regular at the Woolpack, but sadly, he died some time ago, and he was replaced by the present Walter, former music hall entertainer Al Dixon.

*In actual fact, Geoffrey Hooper's Walter often spoke.

Sexed Up In The '80s?

I've had an interesting e-mail from Francois who asks if it's true that Emmerdale Farm became "sexed up" and "grittier" in the mid-1980s and adopted its modern day style way back then?

In a nutshell, to a degree and no.

Emmerdale Farm did become raunchier in the mid-1980s. Jack Sugden's adulturous relationship with Karen Moore was something of a departure for the show and, in August 1985, Emmerdale Farm's creator, Kevin Laffan, stopped writing for the show after a series of disagreements about its content.

The show also became a little grittier as the decade wore on.

But looked upon from the viewpoint of the modern day saga, episodes from the '80s look positively quaint!

Here's a rundown of some controversial Emmerdale Farm events from the 1980s:

1983 - Sandie Merrick becomes pregnant at eighteen. She is unmarried.

1984 - Jack Sugden has an affair with Hotten Market auctioneer Karen Moore.

1985 - Jackie Merrick is run over by Alan Turner in his car. Roadside scenes featuring the character liberally sprinkled with "blood" are sometimes cited as being a shocking moment in the show's history.

1986 - Harry Mowlam is murdered.

1986 - Sandie Merrick begins a relationship with married Phil Pearce, who leaves his wife and family to set up home with her.

1987 - Eric Pollard, a new found enemy of Sandie's, breaks into her home and brandishes a poker at her. He ends up confiding in her and breaking down. Sympathetic Sandie drives him home.

1987 - the villagers unite to prevent a nuclear waste dump being built near Beckindale.

1988 - Dolly Skilbeck has an affair.

1989 - teenager Rachel Hughes has an affair with married Pete Whiteley.

In the 1980s, Emmmerdale Farm/Emmerdale certainly became pacier, raunchier, sexier, but did it adopt the style of modern day Emmerdale? "Nay, nay, nay, Mr Wilks!"

25 Years Ago - The Way Things Were - Gossip From Beckindale 1983 - Part 2...

TV Times, 19-25 February 1983. The synopsis for the episode of Emmerdale Farm broadcast on 22/2/ reads:

Jackie Merrick seems keen to settle in at Emmerdale. But he soon realises he has much to learn.

What were the details of this storyline?

When Jackie found an old butter churn in one of the outbuildings at Emmerdale Farm, he thought it might make a nice ornament. But Dolly, who was already making her own wool, was fired with the ambition to use it...

Annie exclaimed at the find "It's Granny Sugden's old churn! Where'd you find that?"

She pointed out that if the churn was to be used, it would need a stand.

Jackie set to work without consulting Matt, who happened upon the lad working on the stand some time later. He expressed concern at the lack of proper carpentry joints, and the use of nails instead of screws. But Jackie shrugged Matt's doubts off.

That night at the farmhouse, Pat, Dolly and Matt assembled...

... for the grand entrance of the butter churn, complete with Jackie's new stand.

Jackie gave his audience a brief demonstration...

... and the stand fell apart.

Jackie was furious - after all his work! - but Matt offered to help him make a new stand.

And the following day that's just that what they did.

Unknown to Jackie and Matt, Jack happened upon the scene and was glad to see his son was finally settling in at the farm.

The Emmerdale Farm Knitting Book, 1983

A nice item from 1983 which sometimes turns up on eBay. Good addition to any Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale collection.

Some interesting facts about the (then) cast are included.

Did you know that Ian Sharrock appeared with Danny Kaye in ATV's production of Peter Pan?

Clive Hornby, the second actor to play Jack Sugden, joined the cast in 1980. He said in 1983: "I knew nothing about farming when I joined the series - but I've learned a lot and realised what a hard life it is."

Cuddlesome Seth Armstrong. Stan Richards had previously appeared briefly in soapland as a councillor colleague of Alf Roberts and Len Fairclough in Coronation Street.

Frederick Pyne helped to raise £25,000 for two hospitals for the disabled, much of it through personal appearances by himself and through arranging them with other members of the cast.

Tragedy For Matt And Dolly...

Soaps, by Marsha Hanlon, TV Times, 23-29 November 1985.

This was the second child lost during pregnancy for Dolly. The first loss had occurred in early 1980 - and had also marked a change of actress in the Dolly role. When she was last seen before the tragedy, she was played by Katharine Barker. When she returned from hospital, Jean Rogers had taken over.

The reason for the 1985 miscarriage lay behind the scenes: actress Helen Weir, who played Jack Sugden's wife, Pat, and was the real-life wife of the actor behind Jack, Clive Hornby, announced she was pregnant after the start of the Dolly pregnancy storyline. It may have been possible to ignore this fact on screen - the 1980s American sit com Kate & Allie got round the pregnancy of actress Susan Saint James with some very creative storylines and camera angles. But the Emmerdale Farm production team opted to write Helen's real life condition into the plot and it was felt only one baby could be coped with on set.

So, tragedy knocked at Matt and Dolly's door.

They say that a miscarriage is a terrible trauma for a woman, but on this occasion I had to wonder how Matt, in particular, coped. This poor man had been positively battered by fate.

He'd already lost his first wife, Peggy - she had died suddenly in 1973. In 1976, the most awful tragedy befell the man when his infant twins, Sam and Sally, and Aunt Beattie, were killed in an accident at a level crossing.

Then, in 1980, came the loss of Matt and Dolly's much anticipated first baby, at an advanced stage of Dolly's pregnancy, and in 1985 their second sad loss.

Despite all this (and being accused of murder in 1986) Matt managed to plod on, sturdy and dependable. Some TV critics declared the character "boring", but, personally, I liked Matt. Life wasn't so frantic in soaps back in those days and Matt fitted the country setting perfectly.

Matt (Frederick Pyne) as he appeared on the front cover of the 1981 "Emmerdale Farm" novel "False Witness".

1985: Farm Favourite

Daily Mirror, 23 May, 1985:

EastEnders is challenging Emmerdale Farm in the TV ratings. The latest viewing figures reveal that both programmes have between the 12 and 13 million mark, but in the week ending May 12 EastEnders leapt by 200,000. As the cockney soap has been going for only three months compared to the 12 years of their rustic rivals, it's not surprising the BBC are celebrating.

Well, yes. But it should be pointed out that Emmerdale Farm had not had the advantages of the Albert Square drama - loads of costly publicity and a peak viewing time slot across the nation from the outset!

The article also picks up on old Walter - four years after Al Dixon stepped into the role, and the real-life romance and marriage of Clive Hornby and Helen Weir, Pat and Jack Sugden in the serial.

Caring Dolly, Seth And Mr Turner - The Saga Continues, And Jackie Home From Hospital...

Jean Rogers, modelling knitwear as Dolly Skilbeck in 1983.

TV Times, 22-28 June 1985.

The week's big event was the return of Jackie Merrick to Emmerdale Farm after his long stay in hospital. The poor bloke had been in an accident involving a certain Mr Alan Turner's car....

Meanwhile, the Tuesday episode synopsis shows that the aforementioned Mr Turner was not without problems. And, as was so often the case, Seth Armstrong was involved!

8 September 1981 - Emmerdale Farm Returns And A New BBC Comedy Series Begins...

From the Sun - 8/9/1981:

Emmerdale Farm returns tonight for a new twice-weekly run (ITV except Scotland, either 5.15 or 7pm).

In tonight's episode, farmer Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) is determined to improve profits.

The viewing schedules that evening also brought us the very first episode of BBC comedy Only Fools And Horses (click on image for more) - lovely jubbly!