I Am A Swede

You probably mean Silent Walter, a character that for some reason has become an Emmerdale Farm icon. You can read about him here: https://www.1980sactual.com/2009/03/1980-1985-al-dixon-as-emmerdale-farms.html

Thank you. If I can get anyone interested in watching these old episodes it's well worth it. I will probably go back for a re-watch once I've reached the end of the uploaded episodes from this channel. It's maybe not Upstairs, Downstairs level of excellence, but it's not far behind. I remember a blog called The Beckindale Bugle (named after a newsletter Amos started) but it sadly seems to have disappeared.

And it couldn't happen to a more deserving pile of crap

I feel like I'm repeating myself but, does Brad Bell really think this is good writing? Is he watching this show with any kind of pride or satisfaction? And what do the actors think? Do they feel any pride in their work or do they just keep their heads down, collect their paychecks and go home? People like John McCook and KKL who were around during the Bill Bell days, or even when Brad's own writing was halfway decent.

I guess Brad Bell has picked up a few tips from the big orange one. Use a distraction (in this case a gay couple) to draw the audience's attention away from the absolute cesspool that the rest of the show is. It might bring in some positive publicity briefly, but it can't hide the truth forever.

It's actually a bit frightening to see the speed and ease with which Trump and his cronies are dismantling the institutions of government, the free media and really the fabrics of society. The damage they do will be incredibly hard to repair. And it makes me wonder if it could happen here as well, or maybe I should say would it be as easy here? I never would have thought something like this could happen here, but I never thought it could happen in the US either, so why would we be immune? Especially since many of the opinions MAGA followers express are growing stronger here too. There are people here too who think that Trump is great and who blindly regurgitates all his vile opinions.

This is so bad.... I thought that current Emmerdale was the worst of the shows I used to watch regularly, but boy is B&B giving them a run for their money.

The end of an era…. I’ve finished all of the Emmerdale Farm episodes from the 1970s, and what a pleasure it has been. I have thoroughly enjoyed every single second of it. It’s hard to believe that these episodes belong to the same show that we see nowadays. In many ways I suppose they don’t. The Emmerdale of today is so vastly different from what Emmerdale Farm was back then that it could very well be a totally different show. During the first year the show was clearly trying to find its feet, but once Jack left in October 1973 things seemed to fall into place. After the initial story had run out Jack felt slightly isolated up at the old mill and didn’t really fit in with the goings-on at the farm. From then on I feel that the show only got better and better. You could say that the 1970s was divided into two different eras: the Arncliffe era (1972-75) and the Esholt era (1977-79) with 1976 acting as a sort of transition period. The Arncliffe era had a few more side characters around. People like Frank and Janie, Penny, Alison, Reverend Ruskin and his wife Liz, George Verney, Mrs. Dawkins, the Gimbles, Ben and Beattie Dowton, Rosemary, Christine… Nearly all of these were gone before the Esholt era. It was really only Kathy Gimbel who stayed on, and only into 1977. You also had the old Woolpack, and other locations like Hawthorn Cottage, the old mill, the forge and the shop. The Esholt era saw a new Woolpack, a new vicarage and the complete disappearance of the shop. We also got a new vicar, Reverend Hinton (after several short-term vicars had followed after Reverend Ruskin left) and also the arrival of Dolly. This era was characterized by shorter stories, usually 6 episodes (3 weeks) with characters who were then hardly mentioned again. There were some exceptions like Nellie Ratcliffe and Aunt Jessie, but they were few. I’ve seen quite a few of these episodes before, but not this many, and it has made me love this era of Emmerdale Farm even more. The 1970s was undoubtedly the golden age of Emmerdale Farm. It has also made me re-arrange my top 50 list of favourite Emmerdale characters. Alison Gibbons and Kathy Davis (Gimble) have entered my top 10 and other 1970s characters like Reverend Edward Ruskin, Janie Harker-Blakey and Lena Dawkins have also found their way on to the list. If Emmerdale today is a full-fledged soap, with all that that entails in the form of increasingly outlandish stories, this was not the case back then. The show was certainly slow-moving, some would probably even call it mundane, but the characters were so rich and real that they kept your interest. Yes, they could be frustrating and even annoying sometimes, but the next moment they could make you laugh or make you want to hug them. In short, they were human, with very human faults and foibles. And you loved them, warts and all. Finally I must say a few words about my absolute favourite part of the 1970s: Dolly Acaster-Skilbeck, as played by Katharine Barker. She came in like a breath of fresh air in early 1977 and brightened up the show with her presence. I can’t really put my finger on what it is that makes her so special, but Katharine had that special je ne sais quoi quality, and I will miss her very much going into the 1980s. Dolly won’t be the same without her.

I love this. Thank you Channel 4!

❤️

A true Hollywood icon. R.I.P.

^^ This feels highly appropriate when I read that.

Doesn't it make you wish we could have that kind of storytelling now? Back then they actually managed to redeem a character like that. It would never happen now.

You're in for a real shocker. Marty's story is probably one of the most iconic from the 1990s. I won't say any more than that.

Marty will definitely have a redemption story.... and it's a big one.