Is Emmerdale Today The Same As Emmerdale Farm In The 1980s?

'80s incomer Alan Turner (Richard Thorp), who first appeared in March 1982.

Moggy has written to ask if I think the modern day Emmerdale serial is the same, in terms of style and story-line content, as Emmerdale Farm in the 1980s?

No, is the simple answer. Life changes and soaps evolve. The Emmerdale Farm of the 1980s was not the Emmerdale Farm of 1972-1979, and the Emmerdale of the 1990s was not the Emmerdale Farm of the 1980s, and the Emmerdale of the early 2000s is not the Emmerdale of the 1990s.

Tastes change, soaps have to change with them.

For instance, in the '72-79 era, Emmerdale Farm had a few outlandish storylines: the vicar's son was arrested for gun running in Athens, tramp-like wanderer Dry Hogben turned out to be stinking rich and on the run from his responsibilities, and Sam Pearson worried that one of his forebears was a witch. There were a few other such "oddball" storylines. But these was very much in keeping with the style of soaps back then. Viewers wanted a bit of escapism, a touch of the incredible in their soaps.

The '72-'79 show was also largely centred around older people: teenagers - like Rosemary Kendall - tended to be passing through.

In the 1980s, the show became grittier, more down to earth, faster moving, and more political - the anti-nuclear storyline of 1987 was hailed as a major step forward in the politicisation of soap operas by some, but as anti-government propaganda by others. There were permanent youth characters, an expanding cast, and more graphic and racy scenes - which had a mixed reception. In 1989, the decision was taken to edge farming out of the storyline to some degree and so "Farm" was dropped from the show's title.

The 1990s were a positive riot - with the glorious camp bitchery of Kim Tate and indeed the whole saga of the Tate family, a family very much at war. Once again, the show was keeping up with the times - much influenced by '80s era American soaps, like Dallas and Dynasty. Spectacular disasters - like the 1993 plane crash - altered the village landscape and viewers' perceptions of the show forever.

And so on to the current day.

If the Emmerdale of today was the same in style and content as the Emmerdale Farm of the 1980s, then I doubt it would be attracting viewers. Even EastEnders, which actually began in the 1980s, is not the same show it was back then. Viewers of the early 21st Century want different things from their soaps than the viewers of the 1980s did.

So, Moggy, I must say no, modern day Emmerdale is not the same show as 1980s Emmerdale Farm. I think anybody sitting down to watch, say, an episode of Emmerdale Farm from 1986, and then an episode of Emmerdale from 2009, would see the truth of what I'm saying.

Life moves on, soap moves on. This also applies to Coronation Street, EastEnders, etc.

2009 British Soap Awards: Elizabeth Estensen's Clive Hornby Tribute...

When Clive Hornby made his debut as Jack Sugden in Emmerdale Farm back in 1980, he could not have guessed that the role would last for twenty-eight years, and that he would become a much-loved soap icon.

Mr Hornby's death in 2008 meant that Jack Sugden also had to die. The role had been recast when Clive Hornby took it in 1980, but he had made Jack Sugden so much his own, over such a long period of time, that a further recast would have been unthinkable.

Elizabeth Estensen, who stars in the modern day Emmerdale serial as Diane, appeared on the British Soap Awards programme to pay tribute to him with a simple, and obviously heart-felt speech:

"Clive Hornby made his first appearance as Jack Sugden in 'Emmerdale Farm' on February the 19th, 1980. For twenty-eight years he continued through, among other things, a plane crash, a barn fire, being shot, and several marriages. But always the farmer, with his signature flat cap and wax jacket, he was one of Emmerdale's most loved characters. Clive was a fine actor, a true professional, and a dear friend and colleague to all of us who worked with him. We miss him."

Happy memories.

1981 and 1982: The Death Of Enoch Tolly And Its Aftermath...

Enoch Tolly (Neil McCarthy) was very much a man of the '80s. The 1880s, that is. As Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) commented in early 1981, Enoch simply did not seem at home in the 20th Century.

Enoch was in his usual belligerent frame of mind as the year began - lambasting Jack and Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) about the state of a boundary wall.

The Tollys led a frugal and somewhat grim existence on Tollys' Farm. Money was short, but with Enoch, his wife, Grace (Margaret Stallard), and daughter, Naomi (Jenny Tomasin), working together, the family managed to keep the farm going.

When Grace told Enoch that their other daughter, Hannah (Alison Ambler), who had broken away from Beckindale and was working as a trainee hairdresser in Hotten, would not be coming home on Sunday as usual, Enoch was horrified. If she would not return home for the sabbath, then she needn't bother coming home again at all, he ranted.

Grace - very much under Enoch's thumb.

Grace visited Hannah - but Hannah was insistent: on this one Sunday she was going out with her boyfriend - she had her own life to lead.

With a heavy heart, Grace headed home, dreading Enoch's reaction to the news.

Grace, Naomi and Enoch Tolly at home in early 1981. Enoch drank tea and laid down the law. Things were soon to change.

Back in Beckindale, Naomi had prepared a midday meal, and was surprised when her father did not come in for it. Finally, she went to investigate. She found that the tractor Enoch was driving out in one of the fields had toppled over. He was dead.

Grace was devastated. She expected Hannah would now return home and refused a generous offer from Richard Anstey (Carl Rigg), NY Estates' Beckindale manager, to buy her out. The house and much of the land belonged to NY Estates, and Richard proposed a generous deal to purchase the stock, equipment and land owned by Margaret. She refused. The Tollys would stay at Tollys' Farm. She and Enoch had built things up together. She would not even consider leaving.

Hannah caused her mother hurt and disappointment by refusing to move back home, stating once again that she had her own life to lead. However, she did spend some time at the farm to help out, and made it plain that, although she needed to lead her own life, she still cared about her mother and sister.

Unexpected help came via Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards). Seth confided in Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) that he had courted Grace many years ago, before his marriage to Meg. He still retained a soft spot for her, and turned up at Tollys' Farm on several occasions to offer assistance.

Grace was convinced that she and Naomi could not cope alone - Enoch had worked all the hours God sent - and she decided to employ a man to work on the farm. It so happened that Seth was then able to help her further.

Cowman Daniel Hawkins (Alan Starkey) had been unhappy at NY Estates since the arrival of Joe Sugden (Frazer Hines) as farm manager in late 1980. It had been Joe's decision to begin a hormone injection trial with some of the cattle in Daniel's care. Daniel hated the idea, considering it highly unnatural. In 1981, Joe and Richard Anstey declared the trial a success, the injections would be extended to all the NY Beckindale cattle on a permanent basis. Daniel, who had promised to give in his notice in the event of such an outcome, was as good as his word.

People thought he was mad, in that era of high unemployment, and Daniel was not a young man. How would he find another job? But Daniel insisted he would not compromise his principles.

Seth discussed the situation with Daniel in The Woolpack, and Daniel assured him that he'd be all right - he was not only a cowman, he was well experienced in farming in general. Eureka! Seth immediately dragged him off to see Grace Tolly. Within a very short time a deal was struck and Daniel was in the employ of Tollys' Farm.

And for almost a year things were settled. Then, in early 1982, Grace faced facts: even with Daniel on hand, things were not running as well as they had in Enoch's day. Back then the Tolly family had managed to scratch a living, but now... well, the work was too long and arduous and the rewards too small.

Grace sold up, and the Tolleys left Beckindale for a new, hopefully easier, life in Hotten.

And as for Daniel Hawkins - fortune smiled on him. Grace's decision to leave Beckindale coincided with the arrival of Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) as the Beckindale NY Estates manager in March 1982. And the first thing Alan did, much to Joe's chagrin, was stop the NY cattle hormone injections.

Daniel was able to return to his old job, and Alan was able to try and tempt Matt Skilbeck away from Emmerdale Farm to work as shepherd at NY Estates. Dolly (Jean Rogers) was pregnant, and the couple were seeking a home of their own. The Tolly Farmhouse would go with the job, Alan assured them. Tempting bait indeed!

But in the end Alan's ploy was unsuccessful: Matt and Dolly moved into a new barn conversion at Emmerdale, and Tollys' Farm faded from the story-line.

Anne W Gibbons - Taking Emmerdale Farm In To The '80s...

This photograph was captioned: Producer Anne Gibbons discusses a point in the script with Henry and Amos. "Henry and Amos" were, of course, in reality, Arthur Pentelow and Ronald Magill.

From The Hotten Courier, YTV Emmerdale Farm promotional material, September, 1980:

PROGRAMME PRODUCER LOOKS FORWARD TO A PRODUCTIVE NEW SEASON

By Our Television Correspondent

On completion of her first full year as Producer of 'Emmerdale Farm', Anne Gibbons looks forward to her second with a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement. As she told me...

"Considerable work and effort goes into a twice weekly series like 'Emmerdale Farm'. It's worth pointing out that that for this new season, which begins transmission in September, production started in June, and pre-production work began as far as back as last December. When a draft of the proposed shape of the new series was drawn up, I had meetings with the creator Kevin Laffan, Executive Producer Michael Glynn, Script Editor Michael Russell and the scriptwriters who are to be involved in writing the 44 episodes.

In March, the first writer submitted his proposed storyline for the first six episodes, and the new season was underway and had automatically slipped into gear.

The first production team joined at the beginning of June, as the first six scripts were finalised and broken down into shooting order. Locations were found, sets built, props bought and hired, costumes purchased, and graphics ordered. Schedules, call sheets, camera scripts and detailed instructions poured from the 'Emmerdale' office.

We held casting sessions in both Leeds and London to find the right guest artists to be contracted for new roles.

Suddenly, we were moving faster down the production highway.

Production team number one went 'on the road' in June - just as the second team moved in to prepare for the next six episodes.

We were gathering speed and the revs were up.

The third production team is now underway; and with three teams at various stages of production with a total of 18 episodes, and a further 18 scripts discussed, commissioned and in the pipe-line, we are cruising along in top gear.

An extension to the hours in a day, or even days in the week would be very welcome - overdrive perhaps!"

Bugle Note:

Anne W Gibbons produced Emmerdale Farm from 1979 to 1983, spanning the show's tenth anniversary in October 1982. It was Ms Gibbons' task to take Emmerdale Farm well and truly into the 1980s - and all of us here at The Bugle think she did a grand job!

When Do We Get To 1984?

1984 - friendly service from Henry Wilks (Arthur Pentelow). Meanwhile, Walter - played by Al Dixon from 1980 to 1985 - gets a new hat and faces a difficult time with charming mine host Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill).

An e-mail from Cerys, who asks:

At the end of last year, you promised us Beckindale tales of 1981 and 1984. Well, we've had lots of 1981 so far, but no '84. Have you changed your mind?

No, Cerys - I just got a load of material together from 1981 and thought I'd do things in year order. We have a couple of further visits to 1981 ahead, then it's 1984, I promise!

1984... when Amos tackles a microwave oven. Can Annie Sugden, a dab hand with an Aga, help? No, sadly not - she's never even seen a microwave oven before... Chaos ahead!

Also, why are Amos' customers periodically deserting The Woolpack en masse? Amos decides to interrogate Walter - who is (strangely) silent...

1984 is a very troubled year at The Woolpack... And elsewhere in Beckindale...

Relive it all here soon!

Amos And Mr Wilks - A Question Of Nationality

Amos serves up Mr Wilks' dinner.

I recently went to a wonderfully inclusive, totally non-racist St George's Day celebration in my locality, attended by people of many different racial backgrounds. It was an altogether terrific day (I was persuaded to do some morris dancing, but fortunately no cameras were present), and since then I've found myself pondering politics.

Devolution has brought about many changes in the UK, including a National Assembly for Wales and a National Parliament for Scotland. England continues to be ruled wholly by the UK Government at present, but there has been a reawakening of the knowledge that England is merely a country within Britain, and not Britain itself (in the past, this fact tended to get muddled!).

So what did Amos and Mr Wilks consider their nationality to be?

Well, back in 1981, Amos described Mr Wilks as being "English and Yorkshire!"

In 1982, Mr Wilks, speaking of Amos, told a Spanish visitor to The Woolpack: "He's not English - he's Yorkshire!"

Interesting...

Amos was definitely Yorkshire. And English too, I'm sure.

But, most of all, he was Amos.

It's my belief that if he'd had "Beautifully Barking" emblazoned across his passport, that would have described him far better than any mere nationality!

1980: Jack Sugden - "A Completely Different Person!" - Sheila Mercier

Jack Sugden returns to Emmerdale Farm with a new face in February 1980 - Clive Hornby has taken over the role from Andrew Burt. Annie (Sheila Mercier) and Sam (Toke Townley) greet him.

When Jack Sugden left Beckindale around 1964, after conflict with Jacob, his father, he went to London - then very swinging! When he returned to the farm in 1972, after his father's death, Jack (then played by Andrew Burt) was not a typical Sugden: he spoke "posh" and appeared educated and sophisticated. Some of his attitudes shocked Beckindale, which had not actually caught up to 1960s London standards even by the early 1970s. Jack appeared as rather an outsider.

When Clive Hornby first appeared as Jack in February 1980, the character was very different. This Jack was not as sophisticated, although occasional reference was made to the book he had written, Field Of Tares, and in 1983 Jack was writing a little poetry.

Sheila Mercier wrote in her autobiography, Annie's Song:

Clive Hornby, who had taken over the role of Jack Sugden, settled in quickly. He was even honoured with a special dinner at the Queens Hotel in Leeds on his arrival. It was, after all, a very important part that he was coming to play, although his character returned as a completely different person, more dedicated to farming than ever before!

Like the first Jack, this version favoured free range farming, but he was far more involved practically, far more interested in working on the farm and making the farm work. The original Jack had simply sat back and allocated shares in the farm to the rest of the family.

Clive Hornby's Jack did not sound as "posh", and his ideas were not as "enlightened". The character was not as restless. He seemed more typically a Sugden.

In 1982, after he married Pat Merrick (Helen Weir), Jack told her that he didn't like her working. She was then a clerk for Alan Turner (Richard Thorp) at NY Estates. The original Jack would, no doubt, have grimaced at such an attitude. But the new Jack was in tune with his grandfather, Sam Pearson (Toke Townley) on this issue.

The new Jack fitted more neatly into the Emmerdale Farm/Beckindale scenario. And although Clive Hornby bore a certain facial resemblance to his predecessor, the 1980s Jack was, as Sheila Mercier said, a "completely different person" from the sophisticated but troubled Jack of the early years.

Remember This Is Emmerdale Farm In The 1980s - Not Emmerdale In 2009!

I've just had a somewhat perturbed e-mail from Mel asking why there is no material about Charlie Hardwick on this blog? The answer, Mel, is revealed in the blog's header - the subject is Emmerdale Farm in the 1980s, when Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) and Henry Wilks (Arthur Pentelow) owned The Woolpack, not Emmerdale today!

There's plenty of on-line stuff about Emmerdale if you take a look around the Web.

1981: A Quickie Quiz Starring Walter, Amos Brearly And?

Paul has written to say that I haven't mentioned Al Dixon's Walter (1980-1985) for a while. Thanks, Paul - that won't do at all! Here's a Quickie Quiz featuring Walter - no prizes, just a bit of fun!

In late 1981, Walter was left knocking at The Woolpack as the pub remained closed at Opening Time. Highly puzzled, and persistent, Walter knocked and knocked and knocked...

Then another customer arrived - a man who was an infrequent visitor to Beckindale. He sounded his van horn, which was rather loud, to say the least...

... alerting Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill), who was busy painting the cellar to the strains of Gilbert And Sullivan's With Cat Like Tread on the radio, to the fact that Opening Time was past...

Missing Opening Time was something Amos never thought he'd do, but he was entering The Woolpack in the brewery's "Best Kept Cellar" competition, and, terribly keen to win, had been quite engrossed in his task.

Amos reprimanded Walter for rapping on the pub door so persistently and was not best pleased to see the man who had been making such a noise on his van's horn...

Here's the Quickie Quiz:

Can you tell, from looking at the middle photograph featured in this post, who the man in the van was?

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.