Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

From what I can tell I would agree. 

Not sure if you've seen these, but there are four more videos  afterward on the channel.

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[I Am A Swede]

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  Oh wow.....

I really do have a soft spot for 1970s Emmerdale Farm. It's definitely my favourite era of the show. I don't think many would agree with me though, since it is so different from later years. Here in Sweden it used to be half mockingly referred to as "the show where nothing ever happened", and I'm sure it got that reputation from this period. But I just love it.

[DRW50]

Yes. Even Frazer Hines pushed back on that  a few years ago on Twitter. I think the show is very rich in most of what I've seen of the '70s (I have not seen a lot, admittedly, but I imagine it was along the same lines), with everyday life, layered characters, laughter and tears, a believability. I would much rather watch this than anything on the current show. 

[I Am A Swede]

Spot on! That is exactly what I love about it. Back then it was a show with a clear identity. Now it's been reduced to just another generic soap.

I'm sure there is an element of nostalgia in there too. Some of my earliest memories are of watching Emmerdale Farm alongside my mother. It was her favourite tv-show during that time, and since it came on just before my bedtime I was allowed to stay up while she watched it. I didn't understand English yet, nor could I read the subtitles (I was just around 3-4 years old) so I didn't understand much of what I was watching, but I loved the theme music.... 

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[AMCOLTLLover]

I started the 70‘s of ED when itv released like 5 volumes.

That show wasn’t that boring or lifeless like some say. It always had some intrigue in it and complex characters. Also the first year had a rape, a murder and so on

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and a Sugden died !

Its a shame that Drama didn’t aired the episodes from the beginning. I get why they started with Nov 1989 but It’s still a shame. I have a few episodes missing in my collection. 

Nah.. I mean her struggling marriage, the death of his daughter that he struggled with.. It was just a matter of time when she would break tbh.

[I Am A Swede]

F*ck this show! 

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Emmerdale to air special episode for Faith Dingle's cancer story

They're doing a special episode for Faith Dingle's cancer story, but they did practically nothing, zip, zero for Annie Sugden's funeral!

[AMCOLTLLover]

Oh wow lol That’s tough. Emmerdale knows how to handle their show

[I Am A Swede]

43 years ago today Emmerdale Farm aired its last episode of the 1970s. Due to a strike at ITV the show didn't return until January 1980. Coincidentally it was also the final episode for Katharine Barker, the original Dolly Skilbeck. 

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  Oddly enough watching it now it could almost have served as a final episode for the show. It really feels like the end of an era.

 

[DRW50]

 

[AMCOLTLLover]

I have thought about the Leyla Story. I don’t really think it came out of nowhere that she turned to drugs.

She had a miscarriage, marriage issues with Liam coz he played house with his dead daughter behind her back and she lost her friend Andrea. 
 

There is just so much a human being can take tbh

[I Am A Swede]

^^

If that was all it took then the whole village would be full of drugged up zombies considering all the tragedies that has happened there.

The reason it feels so sudden is there has been no hint before that Leyla was doing any kind of drugs. If there has been then I have missed it. It was just like wham...bam....Leyla's a drug addict. And it must have gone on for some time. How else would she know where to get drugs? A tiny village in rural Yorkshire is not exactly a place where I would expect to find a whole lot of drugs and/or drug suppliers circulating to provide easy access for beginners.

[I Am A Swede]

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Damn it! Why is it that this show could be so good back then, and be so bad now......  I love the relationships between Annie and Sam, Annie and Dolly and of course Amos and Henry. Those two are like an old married couple.  

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And I love the glimpse of Miffield Hall as it looked back then. Now more commonly known of course as Home Farm. It looked slightly bigger in those days.....

It's also interesting that already at this early stage in the marriage between Matt and Dolly the issue that eventually will drive them apart is apparent. Dolly wants them to have a place of their own, while Matt is happy and content to stay at Emmerdale.

Edited July 9, 2022 by I Am A Swede

[DRW50]

That is good continuity with Matt and Dolly, even if Kevin Laffan had left by the time they split up. 

The sets all look much better to me in these early years. 

Agree about then and now of  course...I did think the recent scenes with Cain and Faith in the countryside were lovely, but so much of the show is so heartless and hollow.

[I Am A Swede]

^^

Yes, there are still some moments when something worthwhile shines through. That is why I cannot let go completely. Those moments, however few and far apart, give me hope that things will improve somehow. A vain hope I know, but as they say, hope springs eternal   

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But most of the time the show is just like you described, "heartless and hollow". I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: this is a show that has lost its identity and become just another generic soap. I know that they did it for various reasons, including concern for the real life villagers which is admirable, but abandoning the real village where they used to shoot in favour of a newly constructed village set, really altered the feel of the show. I can see the necessity of it, but still lament the consequences..... The current village set feels as artificial as the plotlines.

[DRW50]