Emmerdale Farm in 1978

1978 was Emmerdale Farm's 7th year. Storylines included a mine explosion, the marriage of Matt Skilbeck and Dolly Acaster, the death of George Verney and the purchase of his land by NY Estates and an armed robbery at The Woolpack. Michael Glynn continued as producer for the second year running. 75 episodes were broadcast.

Production

Stan Richards joins the cast on a recurring basis as Seth Armstrong.

ITV's decision to move the programme up the schedule proved to pay off as episodes began breaking into the network top twenty of the AGB ratings with 17 episodes out of the 75 broadcast appearing.

Stan Richards' arrival was the only notable change to the cast this year as Seth Armstrong appeared for the first time in Episode 449. Initially beginning as a secondary character, it would be another two years before Richards would begin to appear as a regular, for now only appearing when storylines demanded.

Gail Harrison returned as Marian Wilks for seven episodes from October. This would be the last time Harrison appeared in the series. When the character of Marian appeared again, nine years later, she would instead be portrayed by Debbi Blythe.

After two years of working as script editor, Chris Barlas departed the company to focus on writing. He was succeeded by Michael Russell who had previously worked in advertising and public relations. Russell had also previously worked on a farm and the Milk Marketing Board so, despite this being his first television post, was able to bring some experience to the programme.

The programme took another summer break this year, remaining off air for July and August. Thames Television took the opportunity to revise its scheduling for the September return, choosing to broadcast Crossroads across Monday to Thursday in a 6.35pm slot. As a result, the programme moved to 6.30pm on a Friday while the Tuesday episode remained untouched.

A seventeen day long strike at Yorkshire Television, caused by a dispute on a productivity agreement, prevented the last three episodes of Emmerdale Farm, covering Christmas in Beckindale, going out as intended. These were shown when the strike ended at the start of January 1979.

Episodes

#	Ep. No.	Date	Writer	Director	Viewing Figures	Chart Position
1	415	Tuesday 10th January	William Corlett	Derek Martinus	n/k	n/k
2	416	Thursday 12th January	William Corlett	Derek Martinus	n/k	n/k
3	417	Tuesday 17th January	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
4	418	Thursday 19th January	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
5	419	Tuesday 24th January	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
6	420	Thursday 26th January	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
7	421	Tuesday 31st January	John Foster	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
8	422	Thursday 2nd February	John Foster	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
9	423	Tuesday 7th February	John Foster	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
10	424	Thursday 9th February	John Foster	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
11	425	Tuesday 14th February	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
12	426	Thursday 16th February	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
13	427	Tuesday 21st February	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
14	428	Thursday 23rd February	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
15	429	Tuesday 28th February	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
16	430	Thursday 2nd March	Chris Barlas	Matthew Robinson	n/k	n/k
17	431	Tuesday 7th March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	15,050,000	16
18	432	Thursday 9th March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
19	433	Tuesday 14th March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
20	434	Thursday 16th March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
21	435	Tuesday 21st March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
22	436	Thursday 23rd March	Andy Baker	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
23	437	Tuesday 4th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	13,550,000	18
24	438	Thursday 6th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	12,900,000	20
25	439	Tuesday 11th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	13,150,000	21
26	440	Thursday 13th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
27	441	Tuesday 18th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	13,250,000	19
28	442	Thursday 20th April	Neville Siggs	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
29	443	Tuesday 25th April	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	12,800,000	20
30	444	Thursday 27th April	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	n/k	n/k
31	445	Tuesday 2nd May	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	n/k	n/k
32	446	Thursday 4th May	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	n/k	n/k
33	447	Tuesday 9th May	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	n/k	n/k
34	448	Thursday 11th May	Kevin Laffan	Gerald Blake	n/k	n/k
35	449	Tuesday 16th May	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	11,450,000	20
36	450	Thursday 18th May	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
37	451	Tuesday 23rd May	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	10,950,000	18
38	452	Thursday 25th May	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
39	453	Tuesday 30th May	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
40	454	Thursday 8th June	Anne Valery	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
41	455	Tuesday 13th June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	10,950,000	20
42	456	Thursday 15th June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	n/k	n/k
43	457	Tuesday 20th June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	10,450,000	18
44	458	Thursday 22nd June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	10,600,000	17
45	459	Tuesday 27th June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	11,450,000	16
46	460	Thursday 29th June	Kevin Laffan	Derek Martinus	12,350,000	8
47	461	Tuesday 5th September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
48	462	Thursday 7th September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
49	463	Tuesday 12th September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
50	464	Thursday 14th September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
51	465	Tuesday 19th September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
52	466	Thursday 21st September	William Corlett	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
53	467	Tuesday 26th September	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
54	468	Thursday 28th September	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
55	469	Tuesday 3rd October	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
56	470	Thursday 5th October	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
57	471	Tuesday 10th October	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
58	472	Thursday 12th October	Kevin Laffan	David Reynolds	n/k	n/k
59	473	Tuesday 17th October	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
60	474	Thursday 19th October	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	13,300,000	20
61	475	Tuesday 24th October	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
62	476	Thursday 26th October	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
63	477	Tuesday 31st October	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	n/k	n/k
64	478	Thursday 2nd November	Chris Barlas	Paddy Russell	12,900,000	19
65	479	Tuesday 7th November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
66	480	Thursday 9th November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
67	481	Tuesday 14th November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
68	482	Thursday 16th November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
69	483	Tuesday 21st November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
70	484	Thursday 23rd November	Andy Baker	Len Lurcuck	n/k	n/k
71	485	Tuesday 28th November	Malcolm Lynch	Nick Gray	14,550,000	17
72	486	Thursday 30th November	Malcolm Lynch	Nick Gray	n/k	n/k
73	487	Tuesday 5th December	Malcolm Lynch	Nick Gray	14,100,000	16
74	488	Thursday 7th December	Malcolm Lynch	Nick Gray	n/k	n/k
75	489	Thursday 14th December	Malcolm Lynch	Nick Gray	n/k	n/k

Main Cast

Ranking	Character	Played by	Duration	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1	Annie Sugden	Sheila Mercier	Full year	75	471	1
1	Matt Skilbeck	Frederick Pyne	Full year	75	466	1
1	Amos Brearly	Ronald Magill	Full year	75	458	1
1	Henry Wilks	Arthur Pentelow	Full year	75	459	1
1	Dolly Acaster/Skilbeck	Katharine Barker	Full year	75	130	7
6	Sam Pearson	Toke Townley	Full year	74	442	6
7	Joe Sugden	Frazer Hines	Full year	73	475	1
8	Donald Hinton	Hugh Manning	Full year	69	85	9
9	Seth Armstrong	Stan Richards	May to June, October to November	17	17	-
10	Marian Wilks	Gail Harrison	October to November	7	40	-

Storylines

to be added

Who lives where

to be added

Awards and Nominations

to be added