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Classic Emmerdale

(January 2019)

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SC
Si-Co
Si-Co posted:

Surprisingly, the longest surviving female character without a break is now Victoria Sugden. Going back to the "Farm" days (pre-89), I can only think of Matt, Dolly and Sam Skilbeck, and Sandie Merrick who are still alive (actor and character) with links to the Sugden family. Can anyone else come up with others?


Kathy - effectively a member of the family through her marriage to Jack’s son Jackie - is still alive and could theoretically return. Most of her family (the Bates) are alive as far as we know.

I think David Hughes (again related through marriage), though never a regular character, is still alive somewhere. They swiftly killed off Joe, Kate, Mark and Rachel - an entire family unit - over the course of the 90s, then Sarah and Jack in the 00s. I do wonder if they ever regret having killed off so many regulars - probably not, as the show has changed so much there’s little reason for any of them to return.

I wonder if Annie will be given an off-screen death? The village is named after her farm after all!


I still hope ITV plan a suitable send-off for Annie Sugden/Sheila Mercier as is right and proper for the actress and character


Let’s assume Annie passes away in Spain but wanted to be buried in Beckindale/Emmerdale. A special episode could show her funeral, and characters from the past could return for this episode - Matt, Dolly, Sam, Sandie, Kathy, Nick, Alice - maybe Robert would get permission to attend. This all depends on whether these actors wish to return, of course. It’s a shame they have killed off so many of Annie’s closest relatives, including all her children.

I worry that the relevance of such an episode would be lost on today’s viewers - anyone under 30 wouldn’t remember Annie unless they had seen old episodes (and her appearance in 2009), and nor would most of the current villagers/characters.
BR
Brekkie
Robert returning would seem a bit pointless when we're three actors past the ones that would have shared screentime. As important as she was in the early years I think an off-screen funeral is the best way to handle this - after all it is a quarter of a century since she left.


On a similar subject I didn't realise that Betty hadn't been killed off either.
CH
chevron
On a similar subject I didn't realise that Betty hadn't been killed off either.


That'll be because Paula Tilbrook is still alive! Wink
BR
Brekkie
On a similar subject I didn't realise that Betty hadn't been killed off either.


That'll be because Paula Tilbrook is still alive! Wink

Yes, that was a shock to me too.
JA
james-2001
If it's like someone else I know, once you discover someone you thought was dead is actually still alive... they promptly die.

So thankyou, you've killed Paula Tilbrook!
BR
Brekkie
Just found out [you know who I'm thinking] is still alive. Very Happy
JA
james-2001
It certainly did feel like Zak was only bought in as a minor character for those two episodes, I imagine if in 1994 you'd told someone he'd have become one of the show's longest running characters, nobody (probably not least Steve Haliwell himself) would have believed you.
SC
Si-Co
Just found out [you know who I'm thinking] is still alive. Very Happy


Donald Trump? 😜
JA
james-2001
The new YTV endcap finally appeared on today's second episode (20/12/94), only a mere 2 months after the new idents were introduced. Looks like they waited until the new opening titles, end credit theme (finally ditching the 1972 theme for good) & font were introduced until they started using it. Possibly they overlaid the new endcap over the October-December episodes on the original broadcast, anyone got any off-air recordings?
TE
tesandco Founding member
The new YTV endcap finally appeared on today's second episode (20/12/94), only a mere 2 months after the new idents were introduced. Looks like they waited until the new opening titles, end credit theme (finally ditching the 1972 theme for good) & font were introduced until they started using it. Possibly they overlaid the new endcap over the October-December episodes on the original broadcast, anyone got any off-air recordings?


You're in luck there as I can give you the very end of Emmerdale's credits from just before then, namely 15/12/1994 according to the Teletext data, and this is as-broadcast by Yorkshire themselves. I actually have a tape with a lot of recordings from Emmerdale and Corrie from October-December 1994, although a lot of them do cut off before the credits end.

JA
james-2001
That was a very quick answer 🤣

14 days later

JA
james-2001
I'm slightly behind on episodes, as I was away from home last week, and I've just noticed in one of last week's episodes we saw Alan pull up in front of what was supposedly the Ephraim Monk brewery- but was actually the Sunny Bank Mills studios, where Emmerdale was filmed at the time.

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