The second longest running British soap opera of all time ( in second place to 'Coronation Street' ). Created by Kevin Laffan, 'Emmerdale Farm' started on Yorkshire Television in 1972 yet by the mid '90's the titled was shortened to 'Emmerdale' when Phil Redmond ( responsible for both 'Grange Hill' and 'Brookside' ) took over the creative duties. I used to watch this programme religiously when I was younger. That, my friends, was fifteen years ago, back when people could act and when story lines weren't just about fighting, adultery and arguing.Many years back, a special episode entitled 'Emmergale' was screened in which a freak storm hit the village, causing mass destruction, as well as a few fatalities. If it had finished there, all would have been well, but ITV had to wring as much out of it as they could. Like 'Eastenders', it seems to be marred with the curse of flogging a dead horse. In fact, nowadays it seems more effort has gone into how the opening credits look rather than the quality of the scripts.Another setback about today's episodes is that the characters are too unlikeable to endear themselves, a fact not helped by the bad acting from the actors portraying them, especially from Jeff Hordley as Cain Dingle. Back when I watched it there were a fine ensemble of decent performers such as the late Stan Richards as Seth Armstrong, Paula Tilbrook as Betty Eagleton, sexy Deena Payne as fiery Viv Hope, Lorraine Chase as evil Steph Stokes, gorgeous Carolyn Pickles as her nemesis Shelley Williams, Christopher Chittell as feud-making business man Eric Pollard and Louise Beattie as Laura Johnstone.'Emmerdale', like 'Coronation Street', is too ridiculous now to be credible. Hopefully, someday someone will shut the barn door on it for good.

I recorded Emmerdale yesterday so I could watch today's one and all he other ones. I really loved it and I don't see why it has such a low amount of rating! It's at an ideal time so Mum could watch her soap EastEnders because otherwise she would need to wait until I finish watching this soap. She would wonder when she would get to watch her soap and I would say that Emmerdale is my favourite show. It's on 5 days a week but if you compare it to EastEnders that's one soap episode extra and this episode is Wednesday's soap break for EastEnders! I originally was too young but with a neighbour asking me and I said I didn't mind her watching Emmerdale! I like Emmerdale! I'm now old enough to watch a soap.

I used to watch Emmerdale Farm between shifts at the Charlie Chester Casino in Archer Street and loved it. That would be November 1976 and it starred a Scottish lad who used to be in Dr Who. My point is, anyone who watches it now, with Patrick Mower, has to read "Central Casting" by Jimmy McTee (http://stores.lulu.com/aroundthepeak), in which there is a Patrick Mower look-alike competition in Sri Lanka and he is given a chance to explain why he didn't become James Bond... Apparently he nearly made it, but lost out to Roger Moore for reasons not entirely satisfactory. But then in his CV he has Callan, which makes him a star straight away. Target I am not so sure about...

Emmerdale Farm (Emmerdale since 1989) is the best soap on TV and has been for a number of years; I am still puzzled as to why it doesn't get the credit it deserves.I usually watch this soap at my girlfriend's house and it is a great way to unwind after a hard day's work. It's set in Yorkshire (probably the most beautiful county in England)and follows the trials and tribulations of a small village. The villagers can usually be found in local pub The Woolpack or the village shop. However, unlike other soaps, there's several scenes set outside with the beautiful Yorkshire scenery.Unlike other soaps, Emmerdale is a character driven soap. Every now and again it has a big drama such as the 1993 plane crash or the 2002 lorry crash but it doesn't need to have such big events often because it focuses more on the characters. Since it started in 1972 the writers have done a wonderful job.Another ingredient to Emmerdale's success is the balance between humour and tragedy. Some soaps such as Eastenders and Brookside are far too gloomy with no comedic scenes at all but Emmerdale balances the tragedy out with comedy scenes involving the likes of the Dingle Family or the dodgy Eric Pollard. Comedy has always been one of Emmerdale's strong points.The characters themselves are great. Obviously, I would love to go into detail but there wouldn't be enough space when you consider 30 years worth of shows. The 70's focused mainly on the Sugden Family who were always interesting. The 80's saw the likes of Rachel Hughes and the debut of the immoral Eric Pollard. The 90's was a great time for the likes of millionaire Frank Tate, his heartless son Chris, his evil wife Kim Tate and lesbian vet Zoe Tate. Here in the 21st century, Emmerdale continues to be good with characters like the romeo Rodney Blackstock, the crazy Dingle Family and gangster Ray Mullan.I have actually lived in a village for a period and this is quite true to life. Okay, soaps could never really be considered reality but when I lived in a village I found that the small community really did stick together through thick and thin and the same happens in this programme. The only thing that isn't realistic is the amount of time the characters spend in the pub-one of these days Emmerdale is going to suffer from a mass outbreak of alcohol poisoning.All in all, Emmerdale has been consistently good and recently celebrated it's 30th birthday with some great episodes. Here's to the next 30 years.