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;
Major Emmerdale storylines however, Sarah used her calm intellect to take advantage of the situation. She was eventually released, and Jim was sent back to prison. The plot line of a plane crashing in the village of Beckindale occurred on 30 December 1993. The crash killed four regular characters and led to the onscreen renaming of Beckindale to Emmerdale; the village name change was a tribute to the Sugden family, whose farm was known as Emmerdale Farm. The story garnered significant press and audience attention, giving "Emmerdale" its highest ever viewing figures of 16 million. The plot line attracted controversy due to the