Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale (known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989) is a British soap opera 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. Produced by ITV Yorkshire, it has been filmed at their Leeds studio since its inception. The programme is broadcast in every ITV region. The series originally aired during the afternoon until 1978, when it was moved to an early-evening prime time slot in most regions; London and Anglia followed during the mid-1980s. Until December 1988, "Emmerdale" took seasonal breaks;
Emmerdale Reckitt Benckiser took over until 2009, advertising Calgon, Air Wick, Veet, and Lemsip. 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. An average "Emmerdale" episode generally attracts 6–8 million viewers, making it one of Britain's most popular television programmes. During 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