Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[Ben]

That is so odd. But, it makes sense simply b/c CS and EE weren't down. I wonder how that mistake occurred? Someone must have made a typo when supplying the data to DS.

Ross being the daddy was so predictable and obvious. Although, I will admit I was sucked in when they did not show Ross receiving a phone call. That was a good misdirection, almost like they knew he was an obvious choice.

There is more story in giving Vanessa/Kirin a baby, but I just wonder if they will now that Charity/Debbie has a new baby. I don't know why they felt the need to even do this story.

[Adamski]

Am surprised they've brought Joanie and Kyle back so soon. What with that and the Charity babydaddy drama impacting on Cain, I do think they've overlooked the potential angst involved in Moira raising Noah while Charity's banged up. Surely Moira (or Charity, come to think of it) can't be 100% OK with that?

And how on earth are both Alicia and Val going to be written out? It's a real blow for David and Eric to lose their partners around the same time...

[DRW50]

Ben, I guess they just did it for the tension and an obstacle. Bleh. I really do hope they will prove me wrong and Vanessa will have the baby. A baby won't solve character problems (and at the moment Vanessa has some of the "is she on the same show as the rest?" issue that Katie had for years and Kathy had before Katie), but I do think there's a lot of material there for her and Kirin and Rakesh and Priya.

For me the only good part of the reveal was that Charity had some strong scenes, especially when she was alone with Moses. Charity can be tiring but she truly is a complex character.

Rachel is unwatchable. I have to assume that when she goes, neither she nor Jai will have that child, especially after she just said she would put him in care if he's like Jai. I keep waiting for her to finally be gone. It speaks volumes when rough Ali (who was more likeable than usual yesterday) is appalled.

I really did think they were going to do more with Moira raising Noah. I wonder if they couldn't use that child as much as they wanted to, because of schooling.

I have a feeling

Val's exit is supposedly

Anyway, I don't know if any of you like the older episodes, but I found two July 1986 episodes that I had on a disc - the second one is going to take longer to put up but the first one I'm hoping to have up in a few hours. It's pretty good, although the middle-class focus of many of the characters by that point brings a somewhat strained and regimented contrast with Mr. Wilks, Seth and Amos. The episode as a whole is very regimented between the middle-class stuff, young love, the comedy with the older three, and then a bit of farming talk with that family who popped up off and on in the '80s (the Longthorns). I guess this must have been part of the pressures that helped lead Kevin Laffan to quit.

I keep wanting to see more of this Dolly, but she seems so wan compared to Katherine Rogers, who was a real firecracker.

[I Am A Swede]

I think you're mixing up the two Dolly's.

Katharine Barker was the original Dolly, and Jean Rogers was the second one.

Can't wait to see those two 1986 episodes though. There's so little 1980s Emmerdale Farm on Youtube, at least that I've found so far.

Edited July 1, 2015 by I Am A Swede

[DRW50]

Sorry...

Which did you prefer as Dolly?

My channel, Steph Stokes, has 4 consecutive April/May 1983 episodes and 1 December 1986 episode I hadn't seen anywhere on Youtube. After the two July 1986 episodes that's all I have, but I hope more will pop up. It's strange how there's as much of 1986 up as of almost every other year in the '80s combined.

[DRW50]

Here's the first one.

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The poster Karen has on her wall made me laugh for some reason.

[I Am A Swede]

I think my avatar answers your question about which Dolly I preferred.

I hope more 1980s Emmerdale will pop up as well, but until then I have some more 1970s episodes to watch. Hopefully there will be more of that too. Especially 1975, 1976 and 1977, years that are, for the most part, sorely lacking right now.

[DRW50]

I have some January to March 1975 - if you haven't already seen that I can upload it sometime.

Here's one from January 1976.

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I hope you can watch the ones I put up sometime. I'll try to figure out more about how to do playlists. I managed one for the 1983 episodes...

Anyway, this channel I'm not sure of, as at first I thought they were just uploading stuff taken from other channels, but they put up an episode from 1990 when Amos has his stroke, and I don't think it's been on Youtube for a while, if ever (although I remember seeing it at some point).

[TimWil]

Carl, this is for you...

https://twitter.com/salislee/status/616215583156256769

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Have so much to catch up on. Not thrilled about Ross being the father. When did he even sleep with Charity Jesus...

[DRW50]

Thanks Tim. Now if only they'd get some new photos...

[DRW50]

This is the next episode, and all I have right now, sadly. It's pretty good - great contrast of light and somber.

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[I Am A Swede]

This was such a transitional time for the show. In just a few years several long-running characters left the show: Amos, Henry, Matt, Dolly, Jackie, Sandie and Reverend Hinton. This was also the period when the Tate family moved into Home Farm, and of course the show changed its name from "Emmerdale Farm" to just "Emmerdale".

It really was the end of an era.

[DRW50]

Some part of me almost doesn't even want to see the episodes when so many left, as I think the show really lost something in that. I'm not sure why they had to completely get rid of characters like Matt or Dolly. The show is lucky that viewers stayed...but even then it took the plane crash to get more viewers, rather than all the attempts at modernization they'd made before.

[All My Shadows]

To be quite honest, I'm not sure if I'll ever be interested in watching the post-Farm episodes at all. The 70s/80s stuff I've watched is just so dynamic in its identity at the English country soap, and watching it alongside Take the High Road, the Scottish country soap, has off-and-on been one of my favorite UK soap-watching experiences. I hate to think of how much the show changed when it just had to compete with the other soaps.

They killed off too many Sugdens in the late 80s and 90s. This is not to say other families couldn't have been introduced, but what exactly is the message that is meant to be sent when you write out most of the core family?