List of longest running characters

The following is a list of the top 100 longest serving Emmerdale characters who have been featured in the show as of 31st August 2016. It only includes appearances within the main programme and not the spin-offs.

The list is sorted by default in the order of time between first and last appearances of a character in years and months. Some guest characters, who only made short-term appearances which would otherwise allow them to be included in this list such as Jim Latimer, Anya King and Thomas King are excluded.

Some characters who have had more than one actor, such as Robert Sugden, Gabby Thomas and Priya Kotecha, are indicated by a • in the Actor columm. The actor listed in each case is whoever played the character most recently.

Please note: A '#' in the Most recent appearance column indicated that a character is still in the show.