Plane Crash

The plane crash was a storyline in Emmerdale, occured on the 30th December 1993. The basic premise of the storyline saw an Eastern European airliner crash down onto Beckindale, destroying buildings and killing four residents.

Development
Up until 1993, Emmerdale's ratings were dwindling and ITV were threatening to cancel the show after 21 years. However, ITV decided to bring in Phil Redmond, the creator of Emmerdale's rival Brookside, to devise a way of raising the soap's figures.

Reception
The storyline marked a turning point for the show, as it gave the soap its highest viewing figures of 18 million and ensured Emmerdale as being one of the most popular British television soaps. However, despite being a highly acclaimed storyline and securing record ratings, ITV received complaints about the timing of the storyline; it being close to the fifth anniversary of the Lockerbie air disaster.