Emmerdale When a spade was a spade.

[Jock Og]

Time for a trip down memory lane. When the show was more about milking cows than jumping on them; no dark humour at all, Annie's Yorkshire Tea and a spade was a spade i.e. transparent.

 

[Biggie]

Interfering with a cow's udders has it's audience no doubt. But quite niche, and as Emmerdale is a product that needs visibility in a crowded marketplace, reflecting it's era makes sense. Amours intentions towards the cow... why not. Moira done pied her stepson plenty.

Humor is subjective, and I've not noticed any "dark humor" in 'Dale, only the usual humor that accompanies the magic they weave.

All that said... Emmerdale continues to entertain in the here and now.

 

[Ollie james]

I grew up watching Emmerdale farm and coming from rural Ireland it was pretty familiar to me. But in saying all that it's still my favourite show now because I think it's evolved and reinvented itself brilliantly over the years. Characters like Annie, Seth and Amos are iconic but so too are Kim ,Cain ,Zak ,Lisa and Pollard. The recent return of Ross Barton has been brilliant too.

 

[9unfold]

Emmerdale has moved with the times and currently has a compliment of iconic characters.

 

[soapfan]

If Emmerdale had stayed as Emmerdale Farm and not evolved as it did, it wouldn't have lasted as long as it has done. Worse still, whilst ITV and Amazon have promoted the first 50 years of Coronation Street on DVD box set, Emmerdale however haven't and only have few select volume things from the 1970s when it was Emmerdale Farm, when the show was more boring in those days and mostly became The Sugden show and about the farm instead of the village. Otherwise I prefer the other individual characters like Amos, Henry, Seth rather than the show being too family-orientated etc.

Finally, I sometimes wonder how Norman Bowler's Frank Tate would have fitted into Emmerdale Farm during 1972-1988, he'd have been a force to be reckoned with, there's no doubt about that. Apart from The Tate family when Emmerdale Farm became Emmerdale in 1989, there's only character actress Lynn Whiteley that's still alive and well today.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

If Emmerdale had stayed as Emmerdale Farm and not evolved as it did, it wouldn't have lasted as long as it has done. Worse still, whilst ITV and Amazon have promoted the first 50 years of Coronation Street on DVD box set, Emmerdale however haven't and only have few select volume things from the 1970s when it was Emmerdale Farm, when the show was more boring in those days and mostly became The Sugden show and about the farm instead of the village. Otherwise I prefer the other individual characters like Amos, Henry, Seth rather than the show being too family-orientated etc.

Finally, I sometimes wonder how Norman Bowler's Frank Tate would have fitted into Emmerdale Farm during 1972-1988, he'd have been a force to be reckoned with, there's no doubt about that. Apart from The Tate family when Emmerdale Farm became Emmerdale in 1989, there's only character actress Lynn Whiteley that's still alive and well today.

I often wonder how the show would have gone had the Tates been introduced in 1979/80, you’d have gotten far more 80s glam in the show, Kim was a nice character initially but I see her as a character who would still have an edge to her, probably would have had affairs with Jackie Merrick and maybe even Joe Sugden.

 

[soapfan]

I often wonder how the show would have gone had the Tates been introduced in 1979/80, you’d have gotten far more 80s glam in the show, Kim was a nice character initially but I see her as a character who would still have an edge to her, probably would have had affairs with Jackie Merrick and maybe even Joe Sugden.

Well yes, I agree with you on that. A lot would have been dependent upon when Claire King, Peter Amory and Leah Bracknell had joined the acting profession in order to introduce the characters earlier. Actress Leah Bracknell died from cancer recently. As I said, Norman Bowler's Frank Tate would have been a force to be reckoned with also, Frank Tate could easily have been introduced from day 1 when Emmerdale first began in 1972.