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 network was looking to expand its daytime programming after government restrictions on broadcasting hours were relaxed. Laffan had worked on a farm for six months in his youth, and said on writing about farm life: "I was intrigued by the idea that farming was a way of life, as opposed to simply a way of earning a living." The premise of "Emmerdale Farm" was similar to the BBC radio soap opera "The Archers", focusing on a family, a farm and characters in a nearby village. The programme's farmyard filming was originally modelled on RTÉ's "The Riordans", an Irish soap opera