Scheduling of Emmerdale and Central Television chose to move the programme to 19:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in February 1989, This was the first time Anglia had screened "Emmerdale Farm" in the 19:00 slot, Central were simply returning to the slots they used until December 1987, for a period Anglia and Central saw episodes one week later than other regions. From January 1990 all other regions followed the Central and Anglia schedule in the familiar Tuesday and Thursday 19:00 slot. Most companies continued to broadcast the series at 7 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, repeats was shown in the daytime slot of the
Emmerdale 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" was beginning its third decade on the air. 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. The episode gave "Emmerdale" its highest-ever audience of 18 million and marked its "graduation" into a major prime time soap opera. The plane crash "allowed the writers to get rid of much