Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[FrenchFan]

Thanks !

[DRW50]

Mike Parr makes it to base camp.

 

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2016-11-16/emmerdale-actor-reaches-everest-base-camp-in-memory-of-steve-prescott/

 

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2016-11-16/emmerdale-actor-completes-charity-everest-trek/

[All My Shadows]

Wow, this was an excellent watch. Thanks for sharing. I don't think I've ever fully watched an episode from 1975-2010.

I know nothing at all about Emmerdale post-1970s (and, honestly, I only vaguely know things from after Jack first left), but I do know that Sarah was around for a pretty long time, so her death (and the affair with Richie) must have been polarizing for viewers at the time. The actress did some great work in her final episode, though, and I've always thought Clive Hornby was stiff whenever I'd watch little clips of him, but now I can kinda see how that was just the character. The most surprising thing to me is how "farmy" the show still was because I've always been led to believe that it shed a lot of that after the early 90s.

[DRW50]

 

This was the second Sarah, who had been on the show since mid-1994 (the first and more popular was there from 1988-1994; she quit, perhaps because of the plane crash story that she objected to). I imagine the story was difficult for viewers, although the show had undergone huge changes by this point and the Sugdens had long been just one part of the canvas. There wasn't much farm during this period, aside from the Sugdens - it was mostly Home Farm and the village.

 

The public has always had a disjointed view because many assume the show is still about sheep and cows while many fans insist there is no farm or countryside at all. Generally I'd say the show has gone back to the farm a bit more in recent years mostly thanks to the Bartons being prominent characters, although it comes and goes. Last year you just saw occasional scenes in the fields and mostly the kitchen set. This year there's been lots of shots in the field, feed, etc. as the farm itself has more of an actual presence rather than being where people set. It was also home to some of the finest scenes on Emmerdale, or any soap, in a long time - Holly Barton being found dead in her room from a heroin overdose. And for a bit they also brought back another farm (Wylie's), basically a place where terrible things happen and people die horribly. 

 

I wish more of 2000 was around as that was when the show changed irrevocably, thanks to the introduction of Cain Dingle, a nasty, nasty man who gets a break because Jeff Hordley is a superb, charismatic actor and Cain is sad on the inside (essentially Todd Manning without the rape and where the actor is actually talented). It was Cain who convinced Andy to set the fire in the first place. This promo sort of hints of his role on the show at this point - a corruptive influence on the teens and a destructive force on the Reynolds family (due to his obsession with mother Angie Reynolds).

 

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If you get a chance to track down last Friday's episode you may enjoy it, as there were a lot of farm scenes that involved Cain's estranged wife Moira Barton being manipulated by her ex-lover's widow, Emma Barton, a deeply disturbed woman who hates her and blames her for all the failures in the last 25 years of her life. Emma accidentally killed her husband James (a prick) around Wylie's Farm last month after her disgust at his eternal obsession with Moira drove her into a rage. She can't accept what she did and has now convinced herself she needs to forgive herself and show kindness to others, including Moira. As a result she's a flea in Moira's ear, and wants Cain to stay away, as she sees the Dingles as inbred, amoral perverts. The story is all over the place, mostly salvaged by the wonderful acting (especially from Gillian Kearney [Emma]), but there's been some really good stuff in it. 

Edited November 27, 2016 by DRW50

[I Am A Swede]

 

Wow, I didn't know that Madeleine Howard (Sarah #1) had disliked the plane crash story. I don't know why, but I always believed that she had been pregnant in real life when Sarah was pregnant with Victoria, and that she left because of that. Much like Helen Weir (Pat Sugden) left after she and Clive Hornby (Jack) had a son (they were married in real life for several years).

 

Coincidentally Deena Payne (Viv) took her leave of absence in 2008-09 also for family reasons, and Katharine Barker (Dolly #1) left the show partly because she wanted to spend more time with her son.

 

I liked all of these actresses, so maybe there should be a ban on likeable actresses procreating?  

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[DRW50]

I shouldn't put words in her mouth, but this interview suggests she wasn't a fan:

 

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I still hate the way Deena Payne was essentially bummed off after nearly 20 years because she had issues with the way her character was treated. She chose the worst time to take a break, as the show changed permanently (and not for the better - in my mind 2008 is the last year of the "real" Emmerdale, even if some periods since have been decent) during that time and by the time she got back she was out of place. They could have made an effort for her but instead she was treated in a disrespectful manner I can never really forget. 

 

I think one of the reasons Helen Weir left was an argument with the show over what to name baby Robert. It's too bad as Pat has been all but forgotten. I wish more of that time period was available. I wish the show would remember her and her family while the Sugdens are still around. 

 

I did manage to get a few more 1983 episodes I'm going to upload when I can, so hopefully you will enjoy those.

 

Did you save the 3 or 4 May or April 1983 episodes I uploaded? I've lost my copies. 

Edited November 27, 2016 by DRW50

[vetsoapfan]

Speaking of the Sugdens, I have always been a staunch advocate of keeping original, core families strong and vibrant as the decades pass. So many of the Sugdens have been killed off gratuitously, IMHO, leaving it in tatters. For viewers with a better, longtime overview of the show than I have, are there ways to reinvigorate the clan? Blood relatives they could bring back, or create outright, believably? Offspring for, say Jack or Joe, conceived somewhere along the way whom we only discover to exist right now? Maybe their sister (was her name Peggy?) had had a son out of wedlock and given up for adoption, long before she gave birth to her twins and died? I hated watching the Bauers, Stewarts, Matthewses, Hortons, and other important families become decimated over the years. I hope Emmerdale doesn't forget about preserving the Sugdens. I will never consider the Dingles to be this series' core.

[I Am A Swede]

Thank you. At the very least that clip definitely proves that my theory was wrong. Madeleine certainly doesn't look pregnant at all.  

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At the time I had no problem with the plane disaster story, but in hindsight it set a dangerous precedent for the show. It has become a sort of Holy Grail that the show tries to repeat to boost ratings, like the New Years' storm in which Tricia got killed, and last year's helicopter crash, which was a sad almost pathetic attempt to recreate the original story. While the plane crash left indelible marks on the show and the village the only lasting thing the helicopter crash brought was the death of Val.

 

The sacking of Deena and Billy Hartman is still something that makes me angry when I think of it. It was certainly disrespectful to two of the longest-serving characters on the show at the time, and neither of them had, in my opinion, run their course as characters. But Emmerdale has in recent years not exactly shown any interest in respecting and using their history to drive story.

 

Regarding Pat I would say that she has definitely been forgotten. I doubt that many would even know who she was if she was mentioned. Just like Sandie has been forgotten, which is perhaps even more frustrating, since she is still alive, and she's Robert's sister just as much as Victoria is. It's odd how she simply vanished without a trace. It's almost like the show actively tried to erase the Merrick family. You'd think that after Pat and Jackie had died that Sandie would like to keep in touch with her baby brother, but she's been completely missing and hardly even mentioned after she left.

 

I'm definitely looking forward to any more 1983 episodes. Sadly I haven't saved any of the previously uploaded ones. To be honest I don't even know how to do that. (I'm not particularly good at computers )

 

 

 

 

[DRW50]

 

I think that's what annoys me most about what happened to Terry and Viv. Compared to someone like Paddy, who has felt tired for eons, there was still so much to go. 

 

The last mention I heard of Sandie was late 1991. Ridiculous. There's so much story for her return (she'd likely be horrified by Robert and try to sort him out), and her daughter as well. 

 

For a quick way to save videos you can use Keepvid. 

[I Am A Swede]

 

Well, both Jack and Joe had spells away from the village when they could have believably sired children. Jack spent several years in Rome during the 1970s and Joe was in France in the mid 1980s.

Jack was also in Rome (again) for almost a year 1988-89 when he tried to make his off-and-on relationship with Henry Wilks' daughter Marian work.

 

While she's technically not a Sugden you also have Sandie Merrick, Robert's maternal half-sister. She should be around 50 years old now, so she should have a family which could be used.

Also technically not a Sugden, but almost, is Samuel Skilbeck, the son of Peggy's husband Matt and his second wife Dolly. I would say that in Annie's eyes Matt was as much a son to her as Jack and Joe were.

Edited November 27, 2016 by I Am A Swede

[I Am A Swede]

 

Don't even put that idea out into the universe! 

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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.

[DRW50]

 

Agreed. Bringing back Sandie, a long-lost child for Jack or Joe, Sandie's daughter, and Matt's son and grandchildren (with cameos from Matt and Dolly if the actors are able or willing). I'd also bring back the Merrick who was retconned out of existence (Tommy).

[vetsoapfan]

Edited November 27, 2016 by vetsoapfan
post uploaded twice

[NothinButAttitude]

 

From your mouth to God's ears. 

 

I hope this comes true as I too loathe Debbie!

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes, I am familiar enough with the show's history to know that both Sugden brothers, Jack and Joe, spent time off-screen in which they could have realistically sired children. I also like the idea of strengthening the show's roots by bringing back Sandie Merrick, possibly some of her young-adult children, and Samuel Skilbeck. It STILL annoys me that the show killed off Peggy's and Matt's twins, for no fathomable reason. So many potential legacy characters have been axed.

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Speaking of Tommy Merrick, if he has been retconned out of existence, that means nobody has EVER mentioned him since he originally left town? His siblings returned, but he has simply been...erased? I hate when soaps do that. On DAYS, when Tom Horton passed away, his widow Alice referred to Mickey as "Tom's eldest son," which baffled and annoyed me, because...hello, Tommy Horton, Jr., is/was older than Mickey. No mention was made of Tommy during Tom's funeral, Mickey's funeral, or Alice's funeral, so I guess he is another Tommy retconned out of existence.  Maybe the Tommys are up in the Martin attic with Bobby.