Plane Crash

The plane crash was a storyline in Emmerdale that 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.

Plot
The plane crash happened on 30th December 1993. The first scene of the plane crash was when Frank Tate was looking at his wife Kim’s stables when suddenly a ball of fire hits the stables. Nick Bates and Archie Brooks were walking home when they are blinded by some fluid and Archie is engulfed in flames. This would be the last we see of Archie, however his body was never recovered and suspicion remains if he actually died, nevertheless he is declared dead. The Woolpack windows explode in and Joe Sugden crashes his car when a wing of the plane collides with the car, Annie and Leonard Kempinski were also in the car. Joe suffered a broken leg and Annie remained in a coma for several months. However, Leonard died. He and Annie were only married for two months. Up at the stables Kim had to be restrained from trying to retrieve her horses, she listened helplessly as her horses screamed for help. People in the Woolpack started to regain consciousness. Eric Pollard started wandering around looking for his wife, Elizabeth. As the hours passed he started to draw attention as many people became suspicious of his behaviour. Elizabeth is eventually found dead and is declared a victim of the plane crash. However, many people, on and off-screen, believe that Eric killed his wife as she was on her way to the police to report him for forging cheques. Outside, Alan Turner picks up a plane ticket with the name Kurshkov on it, he notices more wreckage in the field together with Angharad and Bernard McAllister and it becomes more clear what has happened. The local school is used as a base. Mark Hughes’ arm can be seen sticking out of some rubble. At the school, Jack Sugden notices Mark's watch amongst the personal belongings that have been found, it is the one that Annie gave him at Christmas. Jack has the unfortunate task of identifying his body. Chris Tate is discovered in the wine bar but his legs are trapped under heavy rubble. When he is retrieved from the rubble he is airlifted to hospital. Chris would learn that he has lost the use of his legs for the rest of his life.

Many buildings in the village were left in ruin as a result of the plane crash. Excluding the four dead villagers, many other bodies were found all over the village. These were passengers from the plane itself.

Aftermath
The effects of the plane crash can still be felt to this day to villagers who were there on that fateful night.

The plane crash has been mentioned several times since including 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. One notable storyline occured at the end of 2010/beginning of 2011 as Michael Feldmann returned after 16 years away and accused Eric of murdering Elizabeth that night 17 years previously. Eric had motive as Elizabeth was on to him about cheque fraud and trying to blame Michael for it. Eric later admits to Val that he would have killed her but flames and debris from the burning airliner beat him to it on that dark December night.

The Storm of 2003/2004 was used to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Plane Crash.

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.

The storyline was even referenced in Brookside on an episode broadcast on 5th January 1994, when character Mick Johnson was seen reading a newspaper with the front page headline "AIR DISASTER TOLL RISES - Village Mourns As Many Die", reflecting the events in Emmerdale.