I Am A Swede

^^ Well, she's not, so I'm sure she can support him.

Matt really was a special character. You rarely see someone like him today. Most people would probably consider him boring, but he was one of those essential characters that grounds a show. I loved him and Dolly as a couple, and it's sad that their marriage fell apart. Frederick's Matt worked so well with both Katharine Barker's and Jean Rogers' Dolly. It would be lovely to have them both back, even for a visit, but at the same time maybe it's best that they stay away so that their memories can remain intact.

Today I think we all wish Happy Birthday to an Emmerdale Farm legend.... Frederick Pyne, who played Matt Skilbeck for 1364 episodes between October 16th 1972 and December 7th 1989, turns 80 years old today! I think it's quite logical that he left shortly after the show dropped the "Farm" and became simply "Emmerdale", because if anybody embodies the Emmerdale Farm era, it's Matt Skilbeck.

A quite nice Christmas episode of Emmerdale, although they did spend too much time on the Dingles (not surprisingly) and way too little on the Thomas' family. This was after all Ashley's last Christmas, so they could have featured them a little more.

Just had to add that John Middleton was absolutely fantastic during the whole episode! His departure will leave a huge hole! And I think that they did a great job with the actors portraying Laurel, Aaron, Chas and Doug. They resembled Charlotte, Danny, Lucy and Duncan just enough to be easily identifiable, but at the same time they were different enough to make Ashley's confusion believable.

Yes, I've watched it, and it was difficult to watch, but at the same time it was bloody brilliant. It was the best episode of Emmerdale in years. Seeing the old familiar sights again, however brief, also made me realize how much the move to a village set has changed the tone of the show. I understand that it is much easier, and probably cheaper, to film on a secluded set, but the authenticity that filming in a real village brought is lost.

The golden age of Emmerdale Farm....

I can't believe Christmas is only a few days away....

I guess you mean World War 1?

Benny Andersson from ABBA turns 70 today, December 16th and I think it's fitting to say.... And here is the birthday boy playing the accordion accompanying his regular collaborator Helen Sjöholm

Wow, this is awesome! I had no idea this song existed!

You know, I never really thought about Joe that way, but you're absolutely right. He should have fit in to the "new" Emmerdale much more than he did. Certainly better than someone like Matt would have. In a way Matt embodies the "old" Emmerdale Farm, and he would have been very out of place on the show in the 90s. I will forever be grateful though that both he and Dolly made it out of Beckindale alive. The first half of the 1990s was actually quite a good period. I think the show really started to lose its way in the middle of the decade. The growing number of Dingles that popped up didn't help, but I think the biggest sign of trouble was actually turning Kim into some kind of superbitch. Her coming back from the dead, watching Frank die, plotting to commit insurance fraud etc was so out of style for the show, and it opened the door for a whole new kind of stories that would have seem hopelessly out of place a few years earlier.

And it was done very thoroughly too. In just over two years (May 1989-August 1991) the show lost Sandie Merrick, Jackie Merrick, Caroline Bates, Rev. Donald Hinton, Matt Skilbeck, Amos Brearly, Dolly Skilbeck, Sam Skilbeck and Henry Wilks. All long-running characters. Caroline and Amos did make more appearances, but only in a recurring capacity.

She's just always been such a bore and a miserable little bitch. Sorry, I just cannot stand her, and I resent that she and Belle have taken all limelight that should have been Victoria's. It's not surprising though since the Dingles have been the favoured ones and the few remaining Sugden have been treated like an afterthought, especially Victoria.

Don't even put that idea out into the universe! I'm sure Amos and Henry are spinning like crazy in their graves knowing that Chas and Charity Dingle are running the Woolpack! I know it's not gonna happen but I wish they would write out Debbie now and explaining it by saying that she and Andy have hooked up somewhere and they're giving their relationship a try for the sake of their children. It wouldn't fix everything, but it would be a wonderful start. Debbie is a character I have disliked almost from her first episode.