Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[vetsoapfan]

 

If you could be in charge of producing the tribute on the show, how would you handle it, and what characters/actors would you try to bring back for guest appearances? 

[I Am A Swede]

 

Would you like a slightly more realistic answer or the dream scenario?  

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One thing I would absolutely do, in both cases, would be to return to Esholt, the village where they filmed the show for 20 years. Annie deserves a send-off in the "real" Emmerdale.

It goes without saying of course that it would be completely and utterly Dingle-free.

The old, classic theme song would naturally be used, for the opening and over the end credits. Maybe even the classic opening and end titles that were used from 1975 to 1989.

 

Realistically the best we could hope for in terms of guest appearances would be Ryan Hawley (Robert), Kelvin Fletcher (Andy) and maybe Malandra Burrows (Kathy) and Luke Tittensor (Daz)

In my dream scenario we would also get Frederick Pyne (Matt), Jean Rogers (Dolly), Diana Davies (Caroline Bates), Jane Hutcheson (Sandie) and Gail Harrison (Marian Wilks). Since Leah Bracknell has sadly passed away, Zoe would be unable to attend, but would send flowers. Same with Betty.

It's so frustrating that so many characters who were important to Annie over the years has been unnecessarily killed off. Not only all her children, but also grandchildren (Jackie, Sam and Sally) and other relatives like Sarah, Kate, Pat, Mark and Rachel.

 

I would make it a special double episode, and show tons of flashbacks of Annie with grandad Sam, Jack, Peggy, Joe, Henry and Amos.

Of the current cast the only characters who would be prominently featured would be Victoria, Diane, Eric and Kim, with appearances from Laurel, Pearl, Bob, Leyla, Brenda, David and Harriet.

 

I'm sure more ideas will come up, but this is a start.

 

 

[DRW50]

I can't bring myself to watch this, but Emmerdale's Twitter has a quote from the episode that says something to the effect of "If you had a fight with her you'd regret it." It shows how much Emmerdale has coarsened over the years. Annie had stern words with people, but you'd think from that quote she was like so many characters today who go around slapping and punching. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Wonderful ideas.

 

It always strikes me that long-time fans have better and more respectful ideas of how to say goodbye to beloved veteran characters/actors than TPTB do. I remember on The Guiding Light, possibly my all-time favorite show, the "tribute" they gave to its matriarch Bert Bauer was pathetic and mishandled to the point of being infuriating. TGL had its own version of the Dingles, the Shayne family, in attendance...while so many important characters who SHOULD have been there were glaringly absent. While I'm not expecting much at all, I hope Emmerdale handles Annie's tribute better.

[I Am A Swede]

 

That quote looks worse than it actually was. It was even Victoria who said it: Nobody picked a fight with Annie Sugden and got away with it.

What I'm most amazed about is that they actually acknowledged what's happened to the Sugdens...

I do wish that this scene could have had Eric or even Kim with Victoria instead of Marlon. You know, people who actually had a history with Annie.  

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Since Victoria is leaving Emmerdale for a while to visit never-before-mentioned relatives I think it's quite obvious that this scene with her and Marlon at Jack's grave is all we're gonna get.

I can't say I'm surprised. I wouldn't put it past the people in charge to have deliberately picked this moment in time to kill off Annie to escape having to put on any kind of tribute.   *bitter*

Edited September 1, 2020 by I Am A Swede

[DRW50]

 

Thanks. The clip was better than I expected. I do wish they had remembered Sandie, but no one does, so what else is new. The mention of Sugden cousins down south interested me. I wonder if that was just to explain why the funeral isn't happening in the village or if they may introduce some of them. Some fans were hoping it might mean the Skilbecks. 

[I Am A Swede]

 

I didn't even think of the Skilbecks!  

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Technically none of them are Sugdens of course, but Annie would think of them as family all the same.

I don't recall any mention of any other relatives on the Sugden side of the family before, and for some reason I always pictured Jacob as an only child. The Pearson side of the family tree had a few representatives on the show during the early years though, like Rosemary Kendall and the Crossthwaites.

[vetsoapfan]

 

Where was Diane? Instead of Marlon, I would have preferred to see Annie's daughter-in-law at the graveyard with Victoria.

[DRW50]

 

Elizabeth Estensen can't film due to her age. Another reason I wish they had waited.

[Manny]

Oh my, I have not watched Emmerdale in such a long time (I find myself repeating this lately a lot in each different soap opera topic I wonder into hahaha)

 

I know of Annie, but I have never seen any of the old episodes, so I have no attachment to that character, but I can see why many of you find it disrespecting and baldy handled.

 

But I am more shocked at the look of Marlon.. Why does he look like a homeless person in that first clip where Victoria finds out about Annie? 

Also, I really think Isabel Hodgins is a pretty girl, but I don't really like her boyish look with this short hair. 

Also also... I have to add that it is really lovely that she decided to stick around for such a long time with the show! It is always nice to have a character grow up with the actor in front of viewers eyes. 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Oh, okay, that makes sense. Thanks for telling me.

 

The show is careless and stupid for doing this now.

[I Am A Swede]

Aren't we lucky. Look at this marvelous tribute they put together for Annie..... 

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They put so much time and effort into this.

(This is from the official Emmerdale Youtube channel.)

[I Am A Swede]

 

I guess that's because we care about these characters in a way that TPTB don't. We invite them into our homes on a regular basis and we grow to love them over the years. Longtime characters on long-running shows stay with us through the years while other people come and go in our lives. I was only around 4-5 years old when I watched Emmerdale Farm for the first time in the late 1970s and I grew up with Annie Sugden in my life, so I naturally have a very strong connection with her, which is why her death means so much to me. I seriously doubt that anyone in charge at Emmerdale now has that kind of connection to the character of Annie that I, and other longtime viewers, have. 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, my knowledge of the history of Guiding Light is somewhat limited, but wasn't the character of Bert Bauer killed off much closer in time to the death of her portrayer? That makes it even worse that they could mishandle the tribute to her. In comparison, Annie Sugden has been absent from Emmerdale for more than 25 years, and very few (hardly any really) characters with ties to her remain on the canvas. This makes it a little more understandable that the show failed so miserable to pay tribute to her. It's still inexcusable mind you, considering Annie's importance to the show.

 

 

[vetsoapfan]

 

Years ago, I read a column by Soap Opera Weekly editor Mimi Torchin. She wrote about an interview she had had with executive producer Gail Kobe, under whom The Guiding Light was decimated in 1983/4. Kobe and a novice writer named Pamela Long quickly eliminated 2/3 of the core cast, and introduced outlandish, campy stories to a show that had previously been literate and adult and predicated primarily on family dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Kobe told Torchin that plot was more important than the characters; that  viewers tuned in to see "exciting" stories more than any specific set of characters. The fact that a woman who had such an erroneous perception of the soap opera genre was allowed to eliminate beloved characters, including the central Bauer family, and completely rebrand a show that had been successful for decades, boggled my mind. PTB who fail to understand how much viewers care about the characters are the ones who cripple the soaps. Sure, storylines are important, but if they are given to characters whom we do not care about, we are not going to waste time watching. I have often remained loyal to soaps during their badly-written and badly-produced periods, simply because I wanted to continue seeing characters in whom I had an emotional interest. If "my" characters are axed, and I am only left with weak stories, I tune out. It's my contention that putting plot mechanics over beloved characters has damaged most of the soaps over the last few decades.

 

All this to say: I agree with you. Viewers care more about the characters than most new producers and writers ever could.

 

The Guiding Light killed off matriarch Bert Bauer the year after actress Charita Bauer died in real life. Even so, because there had been a major gutting of the cast, very few characters remained on-screen who had had close ties to Bert, and no past characters were brought back for the memorial. As a decades-long viewer, it was disappointing to see. I almost would have preferred if the show had done nothing, and left fans with the idea that Bert Bauer was still alive and well and living in Florida with her sister-in-law. If Emmerdale went ahead with a funeral for Annie, and it was only attended by Victoria, Diane and the Dingles, I would be equally vexed, LOL.

[Forever8]

@DRW50 @I Am A Swede