Saturday 15 December 2007
Caring Dolly, Seth And Mr Turner - The Saga Continues, And Jackie Home From Hospital...
1986: The Night The Mobile Phone Arrived In Beckindale...
... and was surprised when two police cars come roaring into the village, sirens going "nee-norr"...
Friday 14 December 2007
The History Of Grandad Pearson...
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....
Thursday 13 December 2007
8 September 1981 - Emmerdale Farm Returns And A New BBC Comedy Series Begins...
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...
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.
Wednesday 12 December 2007
October 1982: "20 Things You Never Knew About Emmerdale Farm"
The Sun, 9 October, 1982:
Emmerdale Farm celebrates its tenth telly anniversary this month. But did you know that...
1) Seven of the eight original characters are still in the show - Annie, Jack and Joe Sugden, Matt Skilbeck, Sam Pearson, Amos Brearly and Henry Wilks.
2) Originally the series was intended to run for 26 episodes. It has run 750.
3) Frederick Pyne, who plays Matt Skilbeck, spent many years working on real farms in Cheshire and Cambridgeshire.
4) Real beer is served in the Woolpack and Ronald Magill, who plays landlord Amos, admits he has been "squiffy" on set quite a few times.
5) The work schedule is so tight that Clive Hornby, who plays Jack Sugden, once had to leave a hospital bed for filming.
6) The real farm and village for Beckindale have a special contract keeping the locations a secret to keep out sightseers.
7) When farmer Arthur Bell agreed to allow cameras on to his land he expected a few weeks of upheaval. Cameras and canteen caravans are now permanent.
8) Sexy Kirsty Pooley, one-time girlfriend of Frazer Hines, once posed nude for a magazine.
9) Thames TV were swamped with complaints when the same episode was shown twice in London.
10) The homely farm kitchen is just a set in the Leeds studio.
11) Emmerdale's flock of black-faced Masham sheep have won prizes at shows.
12) Filming always takes second place to farming. If a milking scene is needed everone waits for milking time.
13) Toke Townley, who plays Sam Pearson, really does go in for the simple life. He is a non-smoking teetotaller who lives in a Leeds flat and doesn't own a TV set.
14) A country diary kept by Farmer Bell's daughter Christine, was used to add authenticity to the scripts.
15) Frazer Hines and Freddie Pyne are now skilled at farm work.
16) Fans can buy Emmerdale cheese - mild and white - and Emmerdale wool.
17) Andrew Burt, who once played Jack Sugden, is due to pop up soon in Dr Who.
18) A gaggle of geese are special mascots of the cast and crew.
19) Hugh Manning, who plays widowed vicar Donald Hinton, once planned to go into the Church.
20) Real-life drama hit Emmerdale Farm a few years back when the stars' mobile canteen exploded. Three workers were badly burned.
1982: What Happened On Amos' Spanish Holiday?
Tuesday 11 December 2007
1985: Up Go The Ratings...
Sunday 9 December 2007
Toke Townley On Farming...
Sunday Mirror, July 3, 1983: "I can't imagine anything more dreadful than being a farmer," said Toke Townley, who played one of my favourite Emmerdale Farm characters, Grandad Sam Pearson, from the start of the show in 1972 to the actor's death in 1984.
As he was so convincing in his portrayal of Sam, a character with a deep attachment to farming and the land, it came as something of a surprise way back then to learn that Toke held such a different view. What a great actor he was!
Saturday 8 December 2007
The Rev Hinton Caught Out!
Thursday 6 December 2007
Emmerdale Farm 1985 - The "Dynasty" Of The Dales?!
Yep, there's no doubt that Emmerdale Farm got a little racier in the mid-1980s, so much so that its creator, Kevin Laffan, ceased to write for it. '80s Emmerdale seems very peaceful indeed compared to current day soap storylines, but did the show back then really have a JR-type character? And was it really Alan Turner?!!
1986: Mrs Bates (Diana Davies) smiles to herself in the office at Home Farm. She made her debut as Alan's "temp" secretary in 1984.
Alan looks very pleased with himself.
Alan had arrived at the NY Estates outpost in Beckindale in 1982 and was not a very pleasant character at first - not exactly a JR, but still not the sort of person you'd want to work for. He was a bully - and he'd shift blame from himself and happily drop an underling in the proverbial to save his own skin. But within a few short years he'd become a lovable oaf - cowardly, into self preservation at almost any cost, but basically not really a bad guy. And his scenes with Mrs Bates, who understood him very well but always managed to hide her amusement, were often an absolute delight...
.
... as were his scenes with Seth Armstrong, NY gamekeeper and permanent thorn in Alan's side.
Perhaps the change in Alan's character had something to do with the way Richard Thorp portrayed him. Larry Hagman gave JR one of his most striking habits: just when we thought he was down, when bad news had been delivered, an apparently knock-out blow, ole JR would not frown - he'd grin evilly and bounce right back. When Alan Turner smiled I couldn't help feeling that there was something genial and rather charming behind all the bullying and bluster. And gradually this seems to have been reflected in the way the Alan Turner character was written. By 1986, he wasn't considered Beckindale's JR by anybody I knew. Just a daft twit many of us enjoyed watching immensely and were actually rather fond of.
Many of his 1980s scenes in the NY Estates office with Mrs Bates are pure Emmerdale gold.
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Sandra Gough Behind The Bar...
Sandra Gough, once the wonderfully comic (though tragedy-stricken) Irma Ogden/Barlow of Coronation Street, was headed to Beckindale as barmaid Doreen. Could this spell romance for Mr Wilks?
Oh dear - trouble at The Malt Shovel in 1984. Mr Wilks (Arthur Pentelow) falls for Doreen's charms - to the consternation of Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) and Ernie Shuttleworth (Peter Schofield).
The Sun, 13/5/1985: Ms Gough gives her opinion on Emmerdale Farm and her time in Coronation Street in a "Where Are They Now?" article on former Corrie stars.