Jackie and Sita

From the TV Times, 10-16 August 1985.

Emmerdale Farm was "still enjoying a popularity boom in the ratings". In the storyline, Jackie Merrick (Ian Sharrock) was having a relationship with young Indian nurse Sita Sharma (Mamta Kash). He met her during his lengthy period of hospitalisation, after he was knocked down by Alan Turner's car.

1985: Seth Is Topping The Bill

From the Daily Mirror, 23/5/1985:

Stan Richards stands there, in smart grey suit topped by Seth Armstrong's soft woolly cap, screws up his face until his bushy moustache and gummy mouth almost meet up with his eyebrows, and grins gormlessly.

And in an accent as thick as Yorkshire gravy, he jokes: "Nah don't forget, if Mr Turner comes in 'ere tonight charge him extra - remember the beer is 75p a pint!"

The audience in the tiny village hall at Bradfield, not far from Sheffield, roar with delight.

Stan plays two or three dates a week, getting the kind of audience appreciation that would be the envy of many top comedians.

Stan has been Seth Armstrong, Emmerdale's poacher-turned gamekeeper, for eight years. [BLOG NOTE: spot the newspaper boo-boo here - it was actually seven years at that point].

"I owe a lot to Emmerdale Farm" he says. "I'm playing the same clubs that I used to. Only difference is now they all want to see me."

Amos Brearly Meets Angie Watts

From the Sun, July 28, 1986:

Remember all the charity events of the 1980s? You couldn't turn round without colliding with a sponsored walk, a sponsored silence, a sponsored bean scoff, a telethon, a walkathon, a talkathon, a bonkathon (you should be so lucky), etc, etc. This particular event, part of Soap Aid, seems to have been a bit of a wash-out, but it's good to see Amos (Ronald Magill), Seth (Stan Richards) and Dolly (Jean Rogers) hobnobbing with Angie (Anita Dobson) and 'Chelle (Susan Tully).

More About Toke Townley...

From the TV Times, 3-9 November 1984:

Toke Townley always regretted not becoming an actor earlier in his life. His parents apparently didn't approve of the stage, and he therefore spent many of his early years as an office clerk.

But when Townley died in September, aged 72, he had been acting for 40 years and had found a happy niche late in life as Sam Pearson of "Emmerdale Farm".

It was a role he had played right from the start of the serial, 12 years ago, and though he looked just right as Sam in his countryman's gear, Townley considered himself a "townie" with no special affection for Sam's rural life. He lived in London with no television or hi-fi, preferring the radio or playing one of his collection of flutes and oboes.

The "Emmerdale Farm" cast held Townley in great affection. He makes his last recorded appearance in two weeks' time. Both Townley and the character he created will be sadly missed.

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."

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!

1986: The Night The Mobile Phone Arrived In Beckindale...

A freezing cold night in 1986, with snow on the ground, and a figure came running down from The Struggle...

... and into the village of Beckindale.

Young Kathy Bates (Malandra Burrows) emerged from her mother's house to fetch something from the car and heard the sound of metal dustbins clattering and a cat yowling. She paused, alarmed. But everything was still.

At the Woolpack...

... Amos (Ronald Magill) was unhappy. He was suffering from conjunctivitis (or "conjunc-tia-vities" as he called it), hence his pirate-style eye patch...

... and Seth (Stan Richards) never tired of teasing him about it.

Having left the pub, Seth started for home...

... and was surprised when two police cars come roaring into the village, sirens going "nee-norr"...

Seth never liked to mix with the police. This feeling got the better of his curiosity and he continued on home.

Curtains twitched at the Woolpack as the police arrived there. The regulars were told that a dangerous man was on the loose.

Over at the village church, the Reverend Donald Hinton (Hugh Manning), locking up for the night, was startled when Derek Warner (Dennis Blanche) jumped out on him, brandishing a shot gun.

At the vicarage, Derek told Donald Hinton that he was the killer of local Mr Nasty Harry Mowlam (Godfrey James)...

A siege was underway, Derek told the vicar he could leave, but the Rev Hinton, stirred by his plight, decided to stay and talk to him. Outside, the police wanted to phone the vicarage and on came a hand-held mobile phone!

It was a Motorola analogue model - state of the art. The first mobile phone call in England - indeed the whole of Britain, had been made by comedian Ernie Wise at St Katherine's Dock, London, on 1 January 1985. The very first commercially available hand-helds had been unveiled by Motorola in 1983. They were hugely expensive and many of us dismissed them: "Yuppie toys - ridiculous, haven't they ever heard of phone boxes?!!"

So, the first sighting of a hand-held mobile in Emmerdale Farm was quite a milestone in the serial's history!

Back to the storyline, and the assembled police (including village bobby Sergeant MacArthur, played by Ian Dale) awaited developments at the vicarage. Finally, Derek emerged with the vicar, and was hustled away by police officers.

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Life in Beckindale soon settled down again, but the glimpse of the mobile phone was an indication that a great technological change was soon to impact on everyday life in the village. And everywhere else!

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When you add to that the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners Lee in 1989, which brought the Internet into all our homes in the 1990s, and the arrival of Sky TV, also in 1989, it seems surprising just how recent the advent of the technology we now take for granted actually was.

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Read more about the arrival of mobile phones in the 1980s here.

The History Of Grandad Pearson...

Photograph by Harold Hanscomb

This young actor is Toke Townley - appearing as Willie the houseboy in the 1952 John Paddy Carstairs film comedy Treasure Hunt. The blurb on the back of the original print informs us that Toke was then a "newcomer to the screen". Toke played both the flute and the recorder, and his talents were sometimes made use of on-screen....

... as seen here in this early 1980s scene from Emmerdale Farm. Toke's role as Grandad Sam Pearson evolved, as is the way with most soap characters - the Sam Pearson who first appeared in 1972 was not of quite the same temperament as the Sam Pearson of a couple of years later.

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The opposite of confirmed son-of-the-soil Sam, Toke had no love for the country life, but his playing of the character was utterly convincing. Sometimes testy, sometimes downright grumpy, Sam was a strongly religious man who cared deeply for his family. The materialisatic and promiscuous ways of the modern world were beyond his understanding.

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In the early 1980s, the character was put to excellent use as Anne W Gibbons increased the regular cast and the household at Emmerdale Farm expanded, with the additions of Jack's new wife, Pat, and newly discovered son, Jackie, and Pat's daughter, Sandie.

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To see Sam confronting the modern ways the incomers brought with them - including one memorable scene featuring fish fingers - added further interest to the character. Grandad Pearson was never boring!

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Sam was deeply distressed when young Sandie became pregnant out of wedlock and was not backwards in speaking up, but he did not act out of unkindness, rather concern for Sandie and his fears about the way the world was going.

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Grandad Pearson entertains at the Beckindale Christmas Show, 1983.

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Sam remained an integral part of the Beckindale community until 1984 when Toke Townley died. His final appearance on screen was in November of that year. Sam's final storyline involved his pumpkin winning first prize in the village's annual show, so the character had an upbeat ending.

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In 1985, Richard Handford, the producer of Emmerdale Farm, paid tribute to Toke:

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"He was a very special member of the cast and we still miss him. On his own admission he was a loner. He spent most of his life living out of suitcases and he didn't really have a home; he preferred to live in a hotel. He was quite happy in his own company, yet he was a very sociable man. Toke was the one who knew the christian names of every commissionaire and canteen lady at Yorkshire Television.

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"And when I went to an expensive restaurant in Leeds recently, I discovered he'd been on first name terms with all the waiters and waitresses there as well.

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"Toke lived a simple life. He didn't drink or smoke and his main relaxation was music.

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"He was very good company and a true professional. There was no question of finding another actor to play Sam Pearson. Toke Townley was irreplaceable."

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!

Jackie Merrick - Heart Throb of Beckindale...

Ian Sharrock in 1983. Ian starred as Jackie Merrick, long-lost son of Jack Sugden in Emmerdale Farm, from 1980 to 1989.

From the Sunday Mirror, September 4, 1983.

Margaret Forwood's TV column in the Sun, October 20, 1983. And tucked away is an amazing snippet about Emmerdale Farm! Don't worry, although the show got racier during the 1980s, I'm sure Jackie's nakedness was only inferred! There's no doubt that Ian Sharrock's presence in the show added some romantic appeal, but he could also act. I thought the Jackie Merrick years were good ones for Emmerdale Farm. The character was killed off in a shotgun accident in 1989.

Remember This? Amos, Sweet As Honey - June 1985

From the TV Times, 13 June 1985.

Does anyone recall the details of this storyline?