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127-812: Emmerdale (known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV . The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales . Created by Kevin Laffan , Emmerdale Farm was first broadcast on 16 October 1972. Interior scenes have been filmed at the Leeds Studios since its inception. Exterior scenes were first filmed in Arncliffe in Littondale , and

254-443: A "soap opera", it doesn't need to be long-running. , but some authors define the word in a way that excludes short-running serial dramas from their definition of "soap opera". BBC Radio 's The Archers , first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera. The longest-running existing television soap is Coronation Street , which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960. According to Albert Moran, one of

381-611: A 40-year-plus run, were cancelled in 2011. All My Children aired its network finale in September 2011, with One Life to Live following suit in January 2012. Both All My Children and One Life to Live were briefly revived online in 2013, before being cancelled again that same year. In 2019, production of Days of Our Lives was put on "indefinite hiatus" and all of the cast's contracts were terminated, raising concerns within soap publications that cancellation would ensue, though

508-652: A 72-year run (including radio). As the World Turns aired its final episode on September 17, 2010, after a 54-year run. As the World Turns was the last of 20 soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble, the soap and consumer goods company from which the genre got its name. As the World Turns and Guiding Light were also among the last of the soaps that originated from New York City. All My Children , another New York–based soap, moved its production out to Los Angeles in an effort to reduce costs and raise sagging ratings; however, both it and One Life to Live , each with

635-662: A bus crash, Sarah Sugden 's death in a barn fire, a New Year's Eve storm, the Kings River explosion, and the Sugden house fire. In 2009, the longest-tenured character, Jack Sugden ( Clive Hornby ), was killed off. Jack's funeral featured the first on-screen appearance in 13 years of Annie Sugden ( Sheila Mercier ). The same year, long-serving executive producer Keith Richardson was replaced by former series producer Steve November (later replaced by John Whiston). Gavin Blyth became

762-400: A dead body, but hey, even if you do, he or she can always come back to play the evil identical twin. Marlena Laird in 1992, during her time as a line producer and director for General Hospital . Romance , secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines. In US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and

889-600: A factory, a bed-and-breakfast, a corner shop, an outdoor-pursuits centre, and various cafés. Emmerdale has featured a number of families: The Sugdens and their relatives, the Merricks and the Skilbecks, were at the centre of the show during the series' first two decades in the 1970s and 1980s (the Emmerdale Farm era). The Sugdens, owners of Emmerdale Farm, were its first family. Many of its members, and those of

1016-483: A farm, owned on the programme by Tom and Mary Riordan) rather than in a studio—the usual practice of British and American soap operas. The Riordans ' success demonstrated that a soap opera could be filmed largely outdoors, and Yorkshire Television sent people to its set in County Meath to see the programme's production first-hand. The first episode aired on 16 October 1972 at 1:30   pm, and began with

1143-473: A fire. Kim Tate's departure from the show on 19 January 1999 was watched by nearly 15 million viewers. The village storm on 1 January 2004 attracted 11.19 million viewers. 18 May 2004 episode in which Jack was shot by his adopted son, Andy, attracted 8.27 million viewers. On 17 March 2005, 9.39 million watched Shelly Williams fall from the Isle of Arran ferry. Zoe Tate ( Leah Bracknell ) left

1270-463: A fixture of American daytime television in the early 1950s, joined by game shows , sitcom reruns and talk shows. In 1988, H. Wesley Kenney , who at the time served as the executive producer of General Hospital , said to The New York Times : I think people like stories that continue so they can relate to these people. They become like a family, and the viewer becomes emotionally involved. There seem to be two attitudes by viewers. One, that

1397-511: A funeral. Once Tylo reprised her character in 2005, a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma. Stunts and complex physical action are largely absent, especially from daytime serials. Such story events often take place off-screen and are referred to in dialogue instead of being shown. This is because stunts or action scenes are difficult to adequately depict without complex movements, multiple takes, and post-production editing. When episodes were broadcast live, post-production work

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1524-591: A lake on 1 February 2007, attracting 8.15 million viewers. The end of the "Who Killed Tom King?" storyline on 17 May 2007, had an audience of 8.92 million. On 14 January 2010, 9.96 million saw Mark Wylde shot dead by wife Natasha . Natasha's 27 October confession to daughter Maisie attracted an audience of nearly 8 million. On 13 January 2011, 9.15 million saw a fire kill Viv Hope and Terry Woods . The live 40th-anniversary episode on 17 October 2012, drew an audience of 8.83 million. On 16 October 2013, 8.15 million watched Cameron Murray take

1651-548: A late-afternoon time slot. By 1977, it was moved to a prime time evening slot in most ITV regions. In the late 1980s, a new production team headed by executive producer Keith Richardson was brought in, and the show's focus moved to the nearby village of Beckindale, with more dramatic storylines such as Pat Sugden's 1986 car crash and the 1988 Crossgill fire. By 1988, the show had been moved to an evening time slot in all ITV regions. Emmerdale Farm also began broadcasting episodes year-round that year. Reflecting its change in focus,

1778-656: A list of top storylines that viewers were disgusted by, with the list including Cain Dingle ( Jeff Hordley ) having sex with an underage Ollie Reynolds ( Vicky Binns ), Charity Dingle ( Emma Atkins ) having a baby with her second-cousin Cain, Aaron Livesy ( Danny Miller ) assisting a quadriplegic Jackson Walsh ( Marc Silcock ) to die, Maya Stepney ( Louisa Clein ) grooming step-son Jacob Gallagher ( Joe-Warren Plant ) and Pierce Harris ( Jonathan Wrather ) raping Rhona Goskirk ( Zoë Henry ). Another storyline that attracted

1905-469: A living." The premise of Emmerdale Farm was similar to the BBC radio soap opera The Archers , focusing on a family, a farm and characters in a nearby village. The programme's farmyard filming was originally modelled on RTÉ 's The Riordans , an Irish soap opera which was broadcast from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1970s. The Riordans broke new ground for soap operas by being filmed largely outdoors (on

2032-432: A married couple whose onscreen and real-life romance was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press at large. The first program generally considered to be a "soap opera" or daytime serial by scholars of the genre is Painted Dreams , which premiered on WGN radio Chicago, on October 20, 1930. It was regularly broadcast in a daytime time slot, where most listeners would be housewives; thus,

2159-583: A number of soap actors were also accomplished stage actors who performed live theater during breaks from their soap roles. In the 1960s and 1970s, new serials such as General Hospital , Days of our Lives , and The Young and the Restless were produced in Los Angeles . Their success made the West Coast a viable alternative to New York-produced soap operas, which were becoming more costly to perform. By

2286-425: A particular place, or focus on a large extended family. The storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. "Soap narratives, like those of film melodramas, are marked by what Steve Neale has described as 'chance happenings, coincidences, missed meetings, sudden conversions, last-minute rescues and revelations, deus ex machina endings.'" These elements may be found across

2413-525: A radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble , Guiding Light was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 to 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as 15-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, As

2540-476: A secret, but viewers eventually discovered both and would visit in the hopes of meeting the cast there. Location shooting was originally filmed in the village of Arncliffe in Littondale, a quiet valley in the Yorkshire Dales . The Falcon, the village hotel, served as the fictional Woolpack Inn. After four years of filming there, it was moved to the village of Esholt in 1976. The Woolpack's real-life location

2667-474: A serial killer, critics and viewers began to praise the character and Sandhu's acting skills, with many believing Meena had become a "top soap serial killer". Duncan Lindsay of the Metro described Meena as "the most unique and entertaining soap villain ever" and admitted that he wanted her to get away with her crimes due to her strong presence on Emmerdale . Many viewers praised Meena, and credited her with being

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2794-510: A series of daily prime time soaps from 2006 to 2007, which aired on newly created sister network MyNetworkTV , but the experiment was largely a failure after disappointing ratings). Due to the masses of episodes produced for a series, release of soap operas to DVD (a popular venue for distribution of current and vintage television series) is considered impractical. With the exception of occasional specials, daytime soap operas are notable by their absence from DVD release schedules (an exception being

2921-525: A short time from 1979 to 1980). More than half of the serials had expanded to one-hour episodes by 1980. As of 2012, three of the four U.S. serials air one-hour episodes each weekday; only The Bold and the Beautiful airs 30-minute episodes. Soap operas were originally broadcast live from the studio, creating what many at the time regarded as a feeling similar to that of a stage play. As nearly all soap operas were originated at that time from New York City ,

3048-484: A single missing episode) was rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 1990s. After The Edge of Night 's 1984 cancellation, reruns of the show's final five years were shown late nights on USA Network from 1985 to 1989. On January 20, 2000, a digital cable and satellite network dedicated to the genre, Soapnet , began re-airing soaps that originally aired on ABC, NBC and CBS. Newer broadcast networks since

3175-462: A soap opera will generally switch between several concurrent narrative threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent to each other. Episodes may feature some of the show's storylines, but not always all of them. Especially in daytime serials and those that are broadcast each weekday, there is some rotation of both storyline and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of

3302-413: A soap would tarnish his reputation as a playwright, which he found to be part of a snobbish attitude shown towards soap operas. Laffan eventually said yes and formed a 26-episode play that would act as a 13-week serial. Laffan had worked on a farm for six months in his youth, and said on writing about farm life: "I was intrigued by the idea that farming was a way of life, as opposed to simply a way of earning

3429-399: A strong viewer response is an arc that saw Meena Jutla ( Paige Sandhu ) be revealed as a serial killer, with her confessing to two off-screen murders, as well as murdering regulars Leanna Cavanagh ( Mimi Slinger ), Andrea Tate ( Anna Nightingale ) and Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). Meena immediately caused division in viewers' opinions from her introduction, and after Meena is revealed to be

3556-710: A two-year deal, Tombola Bingo underwrote the show from November 2009 to March 2012, followed by Bet365 Bingo until March 2014. McCain Foods began a two-year £8 million sponsorship on 7 April 2014. Then on 15 April 2020, the People's Postcode Lottery took over as sponsor of the programme. Two years later, Confused.com replaced the People's Postcode Lottery as Emmerdale ' s sponsor until July 2024. In August, Specsavers replaced Confused.com. As of 2024, Emmerdale generally attracts an average of 4 million viewers. During

3683-401: A week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely conclude all their storylines at the same time. When one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development . Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger , and the season finale (if a soap incorporates a break between seasons) ends in the same way, only to be resolved when the show returns for

3810-480: Is "the heart of the community". Owners of the Woolpack have included Amos Brearly ( Ronald Magill ), Henry Wilks ( Arthur Pentelow ), Alan Turner ( Richard Thorp ), Diane Sugden ( Elizabeth Estensen ), Chas Dingle ( Lucy Pargeter ), and Charity Dingle ( Emma Atkins ). Home Farm is a mansion in Emmerdale; it was first introduced on-screen as Miffield Hall in 1973 and was renamed in 1978. Other locales include

3937-533: Is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the actor with the longest uninterrupted performance in a single role. A number of performers played roles for 20 years or longer, occasionally on more than one show. Rachel Ames played Audrey Hardy on both General Hospital and Port Charles from 1964 until 2007, and returned in 2009. Susan Lucci played Erica Kane in All My Children from

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4064-610: Is not scheduled or because of last-minute deferrals of scheduled episodes to the following day because of breaking news coverage. ( Temporary production stoppages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic similarly resulted in CBS and ABC airing older reruns of The Young and the Restless , The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital during the Spring and Summer of 2020 in order to ration first-run episodes and, eventually, to fill airtime after

4191-473: Is not uncommon for a single character to be played by multiple actors. The key character of Mike Karr on The Edge of Night was played by three actors. Conversely, several actors have remained playing the same character for many years, or decades even. Helen Wagner played Hughes family matriarch Nancy Hughes on American soap As the World Turns from its April 2, 1956, debut through her death in May 2010. She

4318-447: Is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales . It has been noted that the fictional village spans 3,217 acres and is located 39 miles from Bradford and 52 miles from Leeds . A farmhouse , Emmerdale Farm, was the original focal point of the show when it was first broadcast in 1972. The farmhouse was eventually written out of the series in the early 1990s. Local public house The Woolpack

4445-679: The 2021 Inside Soap Awards . On 12 October 2021, it was announced that Emmerdale would partake in a special crossover event involving multiple British soaps to promote the topic of climate change ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference . The event was first suggested by Emmerdale' s executive producer Jane Hudson. It was confirmed that a social media clip featuring two characters from Emmerdale would be discussed in Coronation Street , while Emmerdale itself would refer to events in Casualty . In January 2022, it

4572-630: The Emmerdale plane crash (1993), the storm that killed Tricia Dingle ( Sheree Murphy ) on the 10th anniversary of the plane crash (2003), the Hotten bypass crash (2016), Belle Dingle 's ( Eden Taylor-Draper ) mental health battle (2016), the mirror maze which led to Val Pollard 's ( Charlie Hardwick ) death (2015), Ashley Thomas ' ( John Middleton ) battle with dementia (2016), the post office robbery (1994), Dave Glover 's ( Ian Kelsey ) death (1996), Ross Barton 's ( Michael Parr ) acid attack (2018) and

4699-523: The Harewood estate in 1996 and it has been used since 1997, after being opened by Prime Minister John Major . The Harewood set is a replica of Esholt, with minor alterations. Filming returned to Esholt for a one-off episode in 2016 for a special episode centred around Ashley Thomas ' ( John Middleton ) dementia which aired in December 2016. The location was used to represent Ashley's onset of dementia to

4826-512: The Sugden family convening in the fictional village of Beckindale for the funeral of a relative. Peter Willes, the then-head of serial dramas at Yorkshire Television, did not like that the soap began with a funeral as he found it to be a "very downbeat way to start" and "a big switch-off". However, Laffan pushed the concept as he felt that a funeral would be the best option from a dramatic viewpoint. The show's early years as Emmerdale Farm centred on

4953-547: The 1970s, became one of the first older women on the American serials to enter the workforce. Guiding Light dealt with Bert Bauer ( Charita Bauer ) and her alcoholic husband Bill, and their endless marital troubles. When Bert's status shifted to caring mother and town matriarch, her children's marital troubles were showcased. Search for Tomorrow mostly told its story through the eyes of Joanne Gardner ( Mary Stuart ). Even when stories revolved around other characters, Joanne

5080-455: The 1990s and 2000s incorporated supernatural and science fiction elements into their storylines in an attempt to boost their ratings. One of the main characters on the earlier soap opera Dark Shadows was Barnabas Collins , a vampire, and One Life to Live featured an angel named Virgil. Both shows featured characters who traveled to and from the past. In 1995, Days of our Lives featured a storyline in which fan favorite character Marlena Evans

5207-424: The 1990s, the series had an average of 10–11 million viewers per episode. On 30 December 1993, Emmerdale had its largest-ever audience of 18 million when a plane crashed into the village . On 27 May 1997, 13 million viewers saw Frank Tate ( Norman Bowler ) die of a heart attack after the return of wife Kim ( Claire King ). On 20 October 1998, 12.5 million viewers saw the Woolpack explode after

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5334-477: The 2006 King show-home collapse. By the mid- to late-2000s, the last of the Tates (Zoe, daughter Jean and nephew Joseph ) had emigrated to New Zealand. In 2009, Chris Tate's ex-wife Charity and their son Noah returned to the village. In 2017, Joe Tate returned to the village. In 2018, Kim Tate returned to the village after nearly 20-year absence, and in the following year her son James returned as well. Members of

5461-474: The 40th anniversary episode which saw Carl King 's ( Tom Lister ) death, two births and a wedding (2012). Emmerdale was first broadcast two afternoons a week in 1972, typically on Mondays and Tuesdays. From 1977, the series moved out of the daytime programming slot, with eight out of the fourteen ITV regions choosing to accommodate the programme in the 7:00   pm Tuesday and Thursday slots. The other six regions, including all of Scotland and London, preferred

5588-455: The 5:15pm slots on Mondays and Tuesdays. From 6 January 1988, all ITV regions networked the show in the 6:30   pm slot, but two years later, the transmission time reverted to 7:00   pm, still twice weekly. By January 1997, ITV had opted to increase output to three episodes a week, and from October 2000, a further two episodes were added, thus making Emmerdale a daily soap. A sixth episode begin to air on Sundays in 2004, making Emmerdale

5715-630: The Dingles still remained, having actually increased their numbers in Emmerdale over the years. Their circumstances had changed in their two decades in the village; Chas Dingle owned half of The Woolpack, with Charity Dingle owning the other half, and Marlon was a chef there. In 2014, the Dingles, Bartons and Whites were the central families; the Bartons are a farming family, and the Whites owned Home Farm. In 2022, Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy stated that

5842-406: The Dingles were "arguably the best-known family from the current cast." Over the years, along with its stories of romance and family life, Emmerdale has highlighted a range of different social issues. In January 2021, a poll was conducted by YorkshireLive to see which storylines in the soap's history viewers felt had impacted Emmerdale the most. The top ten, in order of first to tenth, was:

5969-585: The Merrick and Skilbeck families, have left or been killed off since the mid-1990s. Sugdens remaining in the village are Jack's daughter, Victoria Sugden ( Isabel Hodgins ), her son Harry, and Andy Sugden 's ( Kelvin Fletcher ) daughter Sarah (Katie Hill). December 1984 saw the arrival of Caroline Bates ; her teenage children, Kathy and Nick, followed in late 1985. Caroline left the show in 1989, returning for guest appearances in 1991, 1993–1994 and 1996. Nick

6096-408: The Sugden family and rural farm life. The show was originally broadcast twice a week in the afternoon and was regarded by critics as a "sleepy soap" where not much happened. After its initial 13-week run, the positive viewer response led to an increase to 26 weeks and then a 6-month run, which led to the eventual year-long screening of the soap. The increase in episode output was accompanied by a move to

6223-399: The U.S. since the 2000s. As of September 2022, only four daytime soap operas – General Hospital , Days of Our Lives , The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful – are still in production with three airing on two broadcast networks and one on streaming, down from a total of 12 soaps broadcast during the 1990–91 season and a high of 19 in the 1969–70 season. This marks

6350-600: The UK. Emmerdale was formerly broadcast during the day on RTÉ One from 1972 to 2001, before it moved to TV3 , now known as Virgin Media One. RTÉ were several months behind; for many years, they broadcast the show five days a week (instead of ITV's three days a week) and took a break during the summer. As the series began a five-night week, RTÉ fell behind the ITV broadcasts; the gap between RTÉ One's last episode and TV3's first episode

6477-648: The Windsor-Hope family left the village in early 2006, and Viv Hope was killed off in a village fire in February 2011 after nearly 18 years on the show. As of 2024, only Donna Windsor's daughter, April, and the Hope branch of the family (Bob and his daughter Cathy) remain. The King family arrived in 2004, as the Tates departed. All but Jimmy King , his half-sister, Scarlett Nicholls , and his three children, Elliott, Angelica and Carl, were killed off. By 2018, most of

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6604-455: The World Turns and The Edge of Night , both produced by Procter & Gamble Productions , debuted as the first half-hour soap operas on the CBS television network. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s, most soap operas had expanded to an hour in length by the end of the decade ( Another World even expanded to 90 minutes for

6731-541: The award for Best British Soap at the British Soap Awards for the first time. Since January 2019, "classic episodes" of Emmerdale have been broadcast twice daily on ITV3 . Emmerdale Farm was created when Kevin Laffan was asked to write a lunchtime farming serial for ITV, as the network was looking to expand its daytime programming after government restrictions on broadcasting hours were relaxed. He initially said no as his agent advised him that writing

6858-404: The beginning of the soap's inception. Billed Classic Emmerdale , ten sequential episodes have been broadcast weekly since. In March 2019, an episode featuring an exclusively female cast and crew was aired in support of International Women's Day . Executive producer Jane Hudson said that the episode was "a great opportunity for Emmerdale to show the female talent we have both in front and behind

6985-407: The camera." In 2020, the production and filming of Emmerdale was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In order to prevent the programme from coming off air, the episodes shown per week were halved from six to three. They were later reduced to two episodes a week, but have since returned to the normal schedule. In September 2020, it was announced that there would be a "big autumn shake-up"; one of

7112-401: The cast and crew ventured to Jamaica to tape a love consummation storyline between the characters of Garth and Kathy. During the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the evening drama series that were gaining high ratings, daytime serials began to incorporate action and adventure storylines, more big-business intrigue, and an increased emphasis on youthful romance. One of the most popular couples

7239-433: The cast and storylines are rotated across the week's episodes so that each cast member will appear in some but not all episodes. UK and Australian soap operas move through storylines at a faster rate than daytime serials, making them closer to U.S. evening soap operas in this regard. American daytime soap operas feature stylistic elements that set them apart from other shows: Soap opera ratings have significantly fallen in

7366-452: The changes included the casting of Paige Sandhu as Meena Jutla . She was later confirmed to be a serial killer and has been responsible for the murders of Leanna Cavanagh ( Mimi Slinger ), Andrea Tate ( Anna Nightingale ) and Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). All of the actors involved expressed a decision to leave the soap and their exits were incorporated into Meena's serial killer arc, a storyline which has seen Sandhu awarded Best Villain at

7493-454: The daily episode format of its daytime counterparts) and Another Life (a soap that combined standard serial drama with religious overtones), during the 1980s. Fox, the fourth "major network" , carried a short-lived daytime soap Tribes in 1990. Yet, other than this and a couple of pilot attempts, Fox mainly stayed away from daytime soaps, and has not attempted them since their ascension to major-network status in 1994 (it did later attempt

7620-463: The death of Carl King ( Tom Lister ) and a live music festival with performances by Scouting for Girls and the Proclaimers as part of the anniversary celebrations. The story of Carl's death took the show into 2013, when Kate Oates replaced Blackburn as the new series producer. One of Oates' aims was to feature more of the village and rural countryside locations and to bring more "balance" to

7747-450: The defining features that make a television program a soap opera is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode". In 2012, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Lloyd wrote of daily dramas: Although melodramatically eventful, soap operas such as this also have a luxury of space that makes them seem more naturalistic; indeed,

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7874-508: The demographic group for which soap opera advertisers pay the most. Those who might watch in workplace breakrooms are not counted, as Nielsen does not track television viewing outside the home. The rise of cable and the Internet has also provided new sources of entertainment during the day. The genre's decline has additionally been attributed to reality television displacing soap operas as TV's dominant form of melodrama. An early term for

8001-442: The early 1970s, nearly all soap operas had transitioned to being taped. As the World Turns and The Edge of Night were the last to make the switch, in 1975. Port Charles used the practice of running 13-week " story arcs ," in which the main events of the arc are played out and wrapped up over the 13 weeks, although some storylines did continue over more than one arc. According to the 2006 Preview issue of Soap Opera Digest , it

8128-419: The economics of the form demand long scenes, and conversations that a 22-episodes-per-season weekly series might dispense with in half a dozen lines of dialogue may be drawn out, as here, for pages. You spend more time even with the minor characters; the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of

8255-400: The entire series and have been involved in numerous storylines. Scenes initially filmed in the farmhouse were filmed at Lindley Farm, owned by Arthur Peel, a farmer. Laffan and the researchers found his farm ideal for scenes and the location was large enough for cast and crew members to park their vehicles there. Yorkshire Television promised Peel to keep his identity and the location of his farm

8382-665: The episode gained an average of 8.6 million viewers, peaking at 9.1 million viewers when Tom's son Carl ( Tom Lister ) confesses to the murder. The episode received more than double the amount of viewership EastEnders did. The early and mid-2000s saw the introduction of major long-term characters, including the King family and Cain ( Jeff Hordley ) and Charity Dingle ( Emma Atkins ). This era also saw high-profile castings such as Patsy Kensit as Sadie King in 2004, and Amanda Donohoe and Maxwell Caulfield as Natasha and Mark Wylde in 2008. Major storylines during this period included

8509-470: The exotic appeal of the stereotypes connected to the location. As examples, EastEnders focuses on the tough and grim life in the East End of London; Coronation Street and its characters exhibit the stereotypical characteristic of "northern straight talking". If we want to blend an actor back into a show, there's always a way. You can generally find a way to twist and manipulate something. You rarely see

8636-662: The first British soap to broadcast six episodes a week. In January 2008, as with Coronation Street , ITV announced they would cease airing Emmerdale on a Sunday night; this meant that Emmerdale would still air at 7:00   pm each weekday, but to compensate, the Tuesday episode would run until 8:00   pm. Producers of the soap explained that "each hour-long episode on Tuesday will be specially written and won't be two half-hour ones put together." On 8 July 2009, ITV announced that they were to revamp their schedule yet again. This time, Emmerdale ' s Tuesday hour-long episode

8763-428: The first network daytime serial. The main characteristics that define soap operas are "an emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors with only occasional excursions into new locations". Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in

8890-429: The first new daytime soap opera to premiere on a major broadcast network since Passions in 1999. As women increasingly worked outside of the home, daytime television viewing declined. New generations of potential viewers were not raised watching soap operas with their mothers, leaving the shows' long and complex storylines foreign to younger audiences. As viewers age, ratings continue to drop among young adult women,

9017-464: The first soap opera since Generations to feature an African American cast. On April 12, 2024, CBS renewed The Talk for a 15th and final season, with the show concluding in December 2024. Three days later, on April 15, The Gates (now titled " Beyond the Gates ") was greenlit by CBS and is slated to premiere on February 24, 2025, likely to take the time slot of The Talk , meaning it will be

9144-530: The first time since 1953 that there have been only four soap operas airing on broadcast television . The Young and the Restless , the highest-rated soap opera from 1988 to the present, had fewer than 5 million daily viewers as of February 2012, a number exceeded by several non-scripted programs such as Judge Judy . Circulations of soap opera magazines have decreased and some have even ceased publication. Soapnet, which largely aired soap opera reruns, began to be phased out in 2012 and fully ceased operations

9271-495: The following year. The Daytime Emmy Awards , which honor soap operas and other daytime shows, moved from prime time network television to smaller cable channels in 2012, then failed to get any TV broadcast at all in 2014, 2016, and 2017. Several of the U.S.'s most established soaps ended between 2009 and 2012. The longest-running drama in television and radio history, Guiding Light , barely reached 2.1 million daily viewers in 2009 and ended on September 18 of that year, after

9398-734: The gamut of soap operas, from EastEnders to Dallas . In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, the characters are frequently attractive, seductive, glamorous and wealthy. Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working-class environments. Many of the soaps produced in those two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. Both UK and Australian soap operas feature comedic elements, often affectionate comic stereotypes such as

9525-413: The gossip or the grumpy old man, presented as a comic foil to the emotional turmoil that surrounds them. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare. UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting "reality" or purport to have a "realistic" style. UK soap operas also frequently foreground their geographic location as a key defining feature of the show while depicting and capitalising on

9652-523: The heavy amount of filming for cast and crew involved. In March 2020, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic , filming was suspended, and the episodes transmitted per week were decreased to three on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For three weeks of June 2020, two episodes of Emmerdale were transmitted per week in order to preserve episodes. At the end of June, episodes returned to three per week. In September, Emmerdale returned to its regular transmission count of six weekly episodes. In January 2022, it

9779-435: The late 1960s and into the 1970s. Exterior shots were slowly incorporated into the series The Edge of Night and Dark Shadows . Unlike many earlier serials that were set in fictional towns, The Best of Everything and Ryan's Hope were set in a real-world location, New York City. The first exotic location shoot was made by All My Children , to St. Croix in 1978. Many other soap operas planned lavish storylines after

9906-406: The late 1980s, a new production team oversaw the name change and introduced more dramatic storylines, as well as increasing the frequency of episodes. As a result of the changes, viewers and popularity surrounding the soap increased and Emmerdale began to be considered as a major British soap opera. The programme began broadcasting in high definition on 10 October 2011, and in 2016, Emmerdale won

10033-484: The late 1980s, such as Fox and cable television networks, have largely eschewed soap operas in their daytime schedules, instead running syndicated programming and reruns. No cable television outlet has produced its own daytime serial, although DirecTV 's The 101 Network took over existing serial Passions , continuing production for one season; while TBS and CBN Cable Network respectively aired their own soap operas, The Catlins (a primetime soap that utilized

10160-449: The loyalty of the soap opera fan base and the expansion of several half-hour series into hour-long broadcasts in order to maximise advertising revenues. The article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. The issue's cover notably featured its first daytime soap stars, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives ,

10287-532: The matriarch of The Guiding Light , Bert Bauer, developed uterine cancer (as the actress, Charita Bauer , had been diagnosed with the same illness in real life). The storyline encouraged many women to get pap smears and the CBS mailroom in New York City received a then-record amount of fan mail wishing Bauer (both Bert and Charita) well. Nixon would go on to tell many socially relevant storylines on her soaps One Life to Live and All My Children in

10414-416: The middle-class Windsors in 1993, known as the Hope family after Viv 's ( Deena Payne ) 2001 marriage to Bob Hope ( Tony Audenshaw ), and the ne'er-do-well Dingle family in 1994. The Tate, Windsor-Hope and Dingle families predominated during the 1990s and 2000s. The era's storylines included the 1993 plane crash, the 1994 Home Farm siege, the 1998 post-office robbery, the 2000 bus crash, the 2003–04 storm and

10541-412: The most interesting part of Emmerdale , while some complained about the violence shown in her murderous scenes, with Ofcom receiving hundreds of complaints about her brutality. Despite criticism, Meena regularly trended on Twitter and garnered an online fandom , the 'Meeniacs', who felt that the soap would not be the same following her exit. Her storyline also increased Emmerdale ' s ratings to

10668-439: The most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels . Soap opera storylines weave intricate, convoluted and sometimes confusing tales of characters who have affairs, meet mysterious strangers and fall in love, and who commit adultery, all of which keeps audiences hooked on the unfolding story. Crimes such as kidnapping, assault (sometimes sexual), and even murder may go unpunished if

10795-643: The most watched non-Finnish every-weekday program in Finnish television. Ratings have, however, declined in the past few years, previously being consecutively around 350,000 to 400,000 per episode. Emmerdale is broadcast in New Zealand on TVNZ 1 , where it is the second-most-watched daytime programme, after the news. Emmerdale was broadcast in Australia for the first time in July 2006, when UKTV began airing

10922-540: The new five-member Calder family; the Calders made their debut on the show in November that year, and all members had left by August 2002. In 2004, Emmerdale became the first British soap opera to broadcast six episodes a week. By 2006, Emmerdale was contending with, and at times beating, EastEnders in viewership. In 2007, an hour-long special episode revealing the murderer of Tom King ( Kenneth Farrington ) aired;

11049-572: The occupants of The Woolpack hostage and shoot Alicia. The next day, 7.65 million viewers saw Cameron die. In January 2022, their overnight viewing figures saw Emmerdale become the most watched soap opera in the United Kingdom. They beat Coronation Street , a fellow ITV soap that had consistently beaten Emmerdale in the ratings. The rise in viewers was accredited to Meena's serial killer storyline. Numerous Emmerdale storylines have been criticised by viewers, due to suggestions that they are too controversial. In March 2022, Leeds Live compiled

11176-421: The perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story. Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the "romantic quality" of criminal and/or oligarch life. In soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins (including the evil variety ) of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate

11303-424: The point of becoming the most-watched soap opera in the United Kingdom. In September 2021, it was announced that Sandhu had been nominated for Best Newcomer and Best Villain at the 2021 Inside Soap Awards . Meena murdering Leanna was also nominated for Best Show-Stopper. Sandhu went on to win the award for Best Villain. Soap opera According to some dictionaries, for something to be adequately described as

11430-411: The programs ran out of new episodes to broadcast; Days of Our Lives , which produces its episodes roughly eight months ahead of their initial broadcast, did not resort to airing older episodes during this time as it had a larger first-run episode backlog.) Early episodes of Dark Shadows were rerun on PBS member stations in the early 1970s after the show's cancellation, and the entire series (except for

11557-601: The prosperous Brooks family with four daughters, and the working-class Foster family of a single working mother with three children. Its storylines explored realistic problems including cancer, mental illness, poverty, and infidelity. In contrast, Dark Shadows (1966–1971), Port Charles (1997–2003) and Passions (1999–2008) featured supernatural characters and dealt with fantasy and horror storylines. Their characters included vampires, witches, ghosts, goblins, and angels. The American soap opera Guiding Light (originally titled The Guiding Light until 1975) started as

11684-441: The reality TV genre was docu-soap . A precursor to reality TV, the televised 1994–95 O. J. Simpson murder case , both preempted and competed with an entire season of soaps, transforming viewing habits and leaving soap operas with 10 percent fewer viewers after the trial ended. Keith Richardson (television executive) Keith Richardson is a British television executive who is Controller of Drama for ITV Yorkshire . He

11811-654: The sale of UTV to ITV a few months previously. The series has appeared in Sweden as Hem till gården ("Home to the Farm") since the 1970s – originally on TV2 , and since 1994, on TV4 . Emmerdale is the most-watched daytime non-news programme in Sweden, attracting from 150,000 to 200,000 viewers daily. The programme appears in Finland on MTV3 where it attracts an average of 200,000 to 250,000 viewers per episode, making it

11938-457: The series may have taken its name from Amerdale, an ancient name of Littondale. Exterior scenes were later shot at Esholt , but are now shot at a purpose-built set on the Harewood estate . The series originally aired during the afternoon and was intended to be a three-month television series. However, more episodes were ordered and transmitted during the daytime until 1978, when it was moved to an early-evening prime time slot in most regions. In

12065-436: The series producer, followed by Stuart Blackburn after Blyth's death. In January 2011, two of the soaps longest-serving characters Viv Hope portrayed by Deena Payne since 1993 and Terry Woods portrayed by Billy Hartman since 1995 respectively, were both killed off as part of a major fire stroyline. Emmerdale celebrated its 40th anniversary with its first-ever live episode on 17 October 2012. " Emmerdale Live " featured

12192-524: The series with episode 4288. Emmerdale has been available to viewers in the United States via the BritBox streaming service since March 2017. New episodes typically appear on the service within five hours of their original broadcast in the UK. The original Emmerdale Farm buildings are located near to the village of Leathley . The buildings are one of the few original filming locations used for

12319-426: The set of relationships examined by the series. Unexpected calamities disrupt weddings, childbirths, and other major life events with unusual frequency. As in comic books – another popular form of linear storytelling pioneered in the US during the 20th century – a character's death is not guaranteed to be permanent . On The Bold and the Beautiful , Taylor Hayes ( Hunter Tylo ) was shown to flatline and have

12446-513: The show after 16 years on 22 September 2005 before 8.58 million viewers, marking her departure by blowing up Home Farm. On 13 July 2006, the Kings River house collapse was seen by 6.90 million viewers. Sadie King ( Patsy Kensit ) and Cain Dingle ( Jeff Hordley ) left on 21 September 2006, before an audience of 8.57 million viewers. On Christmas Day 2006, 7.69 million saw Tom King ( Kenneth Farrington ) murdered on his wedding day. Billy Hopwood ( David Crellin ) crashed his truck into

12573-403: The show instead of focusing on "a few very high-profile stories". Major storylines during this period included a helicopter crash that killed Ruby Haswell ( Alicya Eyo ) and Val Pollard ( Charlie Hardwick ), and a multi-car pile-up. In 2016, Emmerdale was named Best British Soap for the first time at the British Soap Awards . In January 2019, ITV3 began airing episodes of Emmerdale from

12700-425: The show was later renewed through September 2021. In 2022, NBC announced that Days of Our Lives would be moved exclusively to its streaming service, Peacock , making NBC the first of the big three networks not to air any daytime soap operas. In March 2024, CBS Studios , NAACP Venture , in partnership with P&G Studios announced that a new soap opera for CBS titled The Gates is in development and will be

12827-1535: The show's debut in January 1970 until it ended its network television run on ABC on September 23, 2011. Erika Slezak played Victoria Lord #3 on One Life to Live from 1971 until the show ended its network television run on ABC on January 13, 2012, and resumed the role in its short-lived online revival on April 29, 2013. Other actors have played several characters on different shows. Millette Alexander , Bernard Barrow , Doris Belack , David Canary , Judith Chapman , Keith Charles , Jordan Charney , Joan Copeland , Nicolas Coster , Jacqueline Courtney , Augusta Dabney , Louis Edmonds , Don Hastings , Larry Haines , Vincent Irizarry , Lenore Kasdorf , Teri Keane , Lois Kibbee , John Loprieno , Lori March , Maeve McGuire , Robert Mili , James Mitchell , Lee Patterson , Christopher Pennock , Antony Ponzini , William Prince , Rosemary Prinz , Louise Shaffer , Mary Stuart , Richard Thomas , Diana van der Vlis , Mary K. Wells , Lesley Woods and Michael Zaslow , among many others, have all played multiple soap roles. For several decades, most daytime soap operas concentrated on family and marital discord, legal drama and romance. The action rarely left interior settings, and many shows were set in fictional, medium-sized Midwestern towns. Social issue storylines were typically verboten when soaps were starting, due to heavy network-imposed censorship at that time, but writer and producer Agnes Nixon introduced these storylines slowly but surely, first in 1962 when

12954-501: The shows were aimed at – and consumed by – a predominantly female audience. Clara, Lu, 'n Em would become the first network radio serial of the type when it aired on the NBC Blue Network at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931. Although it did not make the move until February 15, 1932, Clara, Lu 'n Em would become the first network serial of the type to move to a weekday daily timeslot, and so also became

13081-461: The soap virtually from scratch," which included survivors changing the village name from "Beckindale" to "Emmerdale". The production team had continually had issues with the fictional village's geography, but they found that the plane crash allowed them to introduce a village that had continuity. Since the plane crash, Emmerdale has had increasingly dramatic storylines and glamorous characters. In 1994, former Coronation Street producer Mervyn Watson

13208-429: The start of a new yearly broadcast. Evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode and present all storylines. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger. In 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as "TV's richest market", noting

13335-471: The stories are similar to what happened to them in real life, or two, thank goodness that isn't me. Many long-running US soap operas established particular environments for their stories. The Doctors and General Hospital , in the beginning, told stories almost exclusively from inside the confines of a hospital. As the World Turns dealt heavily with Chris Hughes' law practice and the travails of his wife Nancy who, tired of being "the loyal housewife" in

13462-538: The success of the All My Children shoot. Soap operas Another World and Guiding Light both went to St. Croix in 1980, the former show culminating a long-running storyline between popular characters Mac, Rachel and Janice, and the latter to serve as an exotic setting for Alan Spaulding and Rita Bauer 's torrid affair. Search for Tomorrow taped for two weeks in Hong Kong in 1981. Later that year, some of

13589-685: The supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows , which did receive an essentially complete release on both VHS and DVD; the single lost episode #1219 is reconstructed by means of an off-the-air audio recording, still images, and recap material from adjacent episodes). Soap opera performers in the United States are typically divided into two main groups: primary characters (sometimes referred to as "contract players" – as their portrayers signed contracts of employment – or leading characters) and secondary characters (sometimes referred to as recurring characters). These two groups of characters make up

13716-584: The time. With the resultant budget cuts, soap operas were no longer able to go on expensive location shoots overseas as they were able to do in the 1980s. During that decade, soap operas increasingly focused on younger characters and social issues , such as Erica Kane 's drug addiction on All My Children , the re-emergence of Viki Lord 's dissociative identity disorder on One Life to Live , and Stuart Chandler dealing with his wife Cindy dying of AIDS on All My Children . Other social issues included cancer , rape , abortion and racism . Several shows during

13843-421: The title was changed to Emmerdale on 14 November 1989. Coinciding with the title change was the introduction of the wealthy Tate family, bringing with them racier storylines. Under Richardson, the soap's popularity gradually began to improve. Richardson produced the programme for 24 years, overseeing its transformation from a minor, daytime, rural drama into a major prime time UK soap opera. By 1993, Emmerdale

13970-420: The vast majority of the people who appear on any given soap. There are also characters who appear only for a short time as dictated by a specific storyline, and even characters who may only get a first name and no fleshed-out character history with little dialogue (these are sometimes referred to as "under-5s" since they receive under five lines of dialogue in each episode). Due to the longevity of these shows, it

14097-808: The viewer. Location filming is also done in the City of Leeds and other West Yorkshire locations; scenes set in the fictional market town of Hotten are currently filmed in Otley , and previously in Farsley . Benton Park School in Rawdon and the primary school in Farnley were also used for filming. Interiors are primarily filmed at Yorkshire Television's Emmerdale Production Centre in Leeds, next to Yorkshire's Leeds Studios . Four farms have been featured on Emmerdale over

14224-502: The world from being frozen, brought a mobster down by finding his black book in a left-handed boy statue, and helped a princess find her Aztec treasure in Mexico . Other soap operas attempted similar adventure storylines, often featuring footage shot on location – frequently in exotic locales. During the 1990s, the mob, action and adventure stories fell out of favor with producers, due to generally declining ratings for daytime soap operas at

14351-405: The years: Emmerdale 's first sponsor (from 14 December 1999 to 20 February 2002) was Daz detergent, followed by Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Heinz salad cream from May 2003 to May 2005, a deal that cost Heinz £10 million. Reckitt Benckiser took over until 2009 in another £10 million deal, advertising Calgon , Air Wick , Veet , and Lemsip . After reports of Littlewoods pulling out of

14478-524: Was Luke Spencer and Laura Webber on General Hospital . Luke and Laura helped to attract both male and female fans. Even actress Elizabeth Taylor was a fan and at her own request was given a guest role in Luke and Laura's wedding episode. Luke and Laura's popularity led to other soap producers striving to reproduce this success by attempting to create supercouples of their own. With increasingly bizarre action storylines coming into vogue, Luke and Laura saved

14605-524: Was announced that after 32 years, Emmerdale ' s transmission time would move to 7:30   pm, due to the ITV Evening News having a longer duration. Thursday's episodes have merged into one hour-long slot. The new scheduling began on Monday 7 March 2022. Emmerdale reaches viewers in the Republic of Ireland via Virgin Media One , which broadcasts the series simultaneously with ITV in

14732-884: Was approximately three months. In 2015, UTV (the Northern Irish ITV Region holder) decided to buy the rights to ITV programming for the Republic of Ireland. It was broadcast on UTV Ireland (now Virgin Media Three ) in 2015 and 2016, it was then moved back to TV3 (now known as Virgin Media one) when Virgin Media Ireland , the owners of the TV3 Group (now known as Virgin Media Television Ireland) bought UTV Ireland from ITV, following

14859-408: Was briefly discussed that all ABC shows might do telenovela arcs, but this was rejected. Though U.S. daytime soap operas are not generally rerun by their networks, occasionally they are rebroadcast elsewhere; CBS and ABC have made exceptions to this, airing older episodes (either those aired earlier in the current season or those aired years prior) on major holidays when special event programming

14986-557: Was changed to Commercial Inn in Esholt, and eventually, the real owner of the inn agreed to change the name to the Woolpack. After the soap began transmitting episodes 52 weeks of the year, the production needed more space. This led to the purchase of a four-floor mill in Farsley for £2 million, which a building team converted into the Emmerdale Production Centre. Construction of another purpose-built set began on

15113-455: Was confirmed that the production team were in the early stages of creating the 50th anniversary storylines set to air in October 2022. They hinted that the anniversary would see a "huge shake-up". Emmerdale has had a large number of characters since it began, with its cast gradually expanding in size. The series has also had changing residences and businesses for its characters. The series

15240-496: Was executive producer of the station's primetime soap, Emmerdale , for 24 years, during which time he oversaw its transformation from a minor, daytime, rural drama into one of the UK's major soap operas. He left Emmerdale in January 2009 and was succeeded by one of his former series producers, Steve November . He executive produced the TV film Falling for ITV1 in 2005. This biographical article related to British television

15367-411: Was frequently a key player in their storylines. Days of Our Lives initially focused on Dr. Tom Horton and his steadfast wife Alice. The show later branched out to focus more on their five children. The Edge of Night featured as its central character Mike Karr, a police detective (later an attorney), and largely dealt with organized crime. The Young and the Restless first focused on two families,

15494-472: Was hired to inject more humour into the show. New long-term characters, such as the Windsor and Dingle families, were also introduced in the 1990s. The Tates became the soap's leading family during the decade. By 2000, Emmerdale episodes were regularly getting 12 million viewers, and the number of episodes per week was increased from three to five. An ITV talent show , Soapstars , was held in 2001 to cast

15621-406: Was impossible. Though all serials have long switched to being taped, extensive post-production work and multiple takes, while possible, are not feasible due to the tight taping schedules and low budgets. The first daytime TV soap opera in the United States was These Are My Children in 1949, though earlier melodramas had aired in the evenings as once-a-week programs. Soap operas quickly became

15748-415: Was into its third decade on the air and December 1993 saw a major turning point in the show's history, when an episode featured a plane crashing into the village of Beckindale, killing four main characters, giving Emmerdale its highest-ever audience of 18 million and marking its transformation into a major prime time soap opera. The plane crash "allowed the writers to get rid of much dead wood, and reinvent

15875-645: Was possessed by the devil, and in 1998, Guiding Light featured a cloning storyline involving legacy character Reva Shayne . Modern U.S. daytime soap operas largely stay true to the original soap opera format. The duration and format of storylines and the visual grammar employed by U.S. daytime serials set them apart from soap operas in other countries and from evening soap operas. Stylistically, UK and Australian soap operas, which are usually produced for early evening timeslots, fall somewhere in between U.S. daytime and evening soap operas. Similar to U.S. daytime soap operas, UK and Australian serials are shot on videotape, and

16002-414: Was reduced back down to 30 minutes, and replaced with a second Thursday episode. Emmerdale and EastEnders ratings improved due to this, with Emmerdale getting 7.7 million, its highest in over 6 months, on 1 October 2009. Between April and August 2019, ITV began airing an additional episode on Tuesdays at 8pm, bringing the total number of episodes a week to seven but it was reduced back to six due to

16129-449: Was written out of the show when he was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1997. Kathy and her niece, Alice, remained in the village until late 2001; by then, Kathy had outlived two husbands. The wealthy Tates were introduced as the new owners of Home Farm in 1989, with the family consisting of Frank Tate ( Norman Bowler ), wife Kim ( Claire King ) and children Chris ( Peter Amory ) and Zoe ( Leah Bracknell ). Other families followed:

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