Emmerdale
Welcome to Emmerdale
"Why don't we do village life? It must be seething with undercurrents of love and loathing. Base it on a farming family - see if we can develop something on those lines...' And so, thanks to writer Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was born. - Ward Thomas, Chairman, Yorkshire Television
Village Life of Emmerdale
Originally named Beckindale, in 1991 the name changed to Emmerdale in 1994. Located 39 miles from Bradford and 52 miles from Leeds, village life centered around farming with an area of 3217 acres in the Yorkshire Dales.
Emmerdale Farm originally was farmed by the Sugden Family. With 320 acres for sheep and cattle, 50 acres for barley and 10 acres for kale, hens and geese also called the farm home. When Matt Skilbeck inherited the nearby farm of Crossgill a further 70 acres was added.
In earlier days two pubs, The Woolpack and The Malt Shovel, shops, a post office and St. Mary's parish church offered some employment for residents. Owned by the Verney family, the largest employer was the Miffield Estate. The 650 acres wa sold to NY Estates until the million-dollar property was sold to the Tate Family.
The Manor House at Home Farm is a Grade II-listed building, which in part dates to the 16th century. With 65 acres of mixed rough and arable land, the property also features 250-acre shoot, a fish farm, and other small holdings.
Hotten is the closest market town with a cattle market, register office, police station, comprehensive school, and local newspaper, The Hotten Courier.
In the 1970s the primary school was closed and students traveled to the village of Connelton which also hosted a few shops, library, and The Feathers Hotel and restaurant.
Emmerdale 1972
On the 16th of October 1972 viewers were introduced to the Yorkshire village at the scene of a funeral for Jacob Sugden who had died six days earlier of pneumonia.
Good vs. Evil - Good Cain Bad Cain
Good versus Evil on Emmerdale.
Cain Dingle - which do you prefer?
Behind the Scenes at Emmerdale Live
In the Beginning
The Sugden's were a family of farmers and a creation of playwright Kevin Laffan, who approached Emmerdale Farm as a 26-episode play with the end left open.
Danny Miller Farewell Rap
Homefields Festival
Emmerdale at YouTube
Episode one - Part One
Emmerdale Books at Amazon
About the Creator
Writer Kevin Laffan had previously written another serial for Yorkshire Television before Emmerdale. Castle Haven was broadcast on ITV in 1969. Most of Kevin's experience was as a playwright. He had a West End stage hit with it's a Two Feet Six Inches Above the Ground World. In the 1950s he was director of the Everyman Theatre in Reading.
Kevin has written other scripts for Yorkshire Television, including The Best Pair of Legs in the Business and contributed scripts to Beryl's Lot, I Tought You'd Gone and The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries.
Book Resources
The Emmerdale Companion
The Complete Official History
Anthony Hayward
Orion Media, 1997
