Emmerdale Farm in 1984

1984 was Emmerdale Farm's 13th year.

76 episodes were broadcast during the year. Storylines included Jack Sugden's affair with Karen Moore, an explosion at The Woolpack, Harry Mowlam's feud with Jackie Merrick, the arrival of Caroline Bates at NY Estates and Jackie shooting Caroline's dog.

Production

The cast of Emmerdale Farm in 1984.

Richard Handford oversaw his first full year of production on the programme.

On 27th September, the programme lost an original cast member as Toke Townley passed away of a heart attack. Sheila Mercier appeared before the broadcast of that night's episode, Episode 894, to pay tribute to Townley. Due to advanced filming schedules however, Townley would remain onscreen as Sam Pearson until 22nd November 1984.

Behind the scenes, there would also be another notable departure as series creator and writer, Kevin Laffan, contributed his last script for the programme. Though he would remain as a show consultant going into 1985, Laffan's last episode was Episode 882 (24th May 1984). Speaking about his departure in Lance Parkin's 30 Years of Emmerdale book, Laffan would reveal that he left the show after refusing to change a script which led to conflict with production staff.

The graphic level of farming content increased this year as scenes appeared of several sheep and a cow giving birth on screen. In addition to this, there were also scenes of aborted lambs in fields. The storyline involving Jackie Merrick shooting Caroline Bates' dog, Bundle, was treated in a similar way as viewers actually saw the shooting. This particular way of telling the story saw a number of viewers write in to the show to seek assurance that the dog portraying Bundle was indeed okay and only acting - she, of course, was.

The programme was, once again, off air for its summer break over July and August.

Episodes

#	Ep. No.	Date	Writer	Director	Viewing Figures	Chart Position
1	843	Tuesday 10th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
2	844	Thursday 12th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
3	845	Tuesday 17th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
4	846	Thursday 19th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
5	847	Tuesday 24th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
6	848	Thursday 26th January	Alan James	Chris Lovett	n/k	n/k
7	849	Tuesday 31st January	Bill Lyons	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
8	850	Thursday 2nd February	Bill Lyons	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
9	851	Tuesday 7th February	Bill Lyons	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
10	852	Thursday 9th February	Bill Lyons	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
11	853	Tuesday 14th February	Steve Trafford	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
12	854	Thursday 16th February	Steve Trafford	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
13	855	Tuesday 21st February	Steve Trafford	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
14	856	Thursday 23rd February	Steve Trafford	Mike Gibbon	n/k	n/k
15	857	Tuesday 28th February	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
16	858	Thursday 1st March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
17	859	Tuesday 6th March	Michael Russell	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
18	860	Thursday 8th March	Michael Russell	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
19	861	Tuesday 13th March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
20	862	Thursday 15th March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
21	863	Tuesday 20th March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
22	864	Thursday 22nd March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
23	865	Tuesday 27th March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
24	866	Thursday 29th March	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
25	867	Tuesday 3rd April	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
26	868	Thursday 5th April	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	11,900,000	n/k
27	869	Tuesday 10th April	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
28	870	Thursday 12th April	Michael Russell Tim Vaughan	Richard Handford	11,200,000	n/k
29	871	Tuesday 17th April	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	10,900,000	10
30	872	Thursday 19th April	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
31	873	Tuesday 24th April	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
32	874	Thursday 26th April	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
33	875	Tuesday 1st May	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
34	876	Thursday 3rd May	Ken Blakeson	Richard Handford	n/k	n/k
35	877	Tuesday 8th May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	10,300,000	17
36	878	Thursday 10th May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	n/k	n/k
37	879	Tuesday 15th May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	n/k	n/k
38	880	Wednesday 16th May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	n/k	n/k
39	881	Tuesday 22nd May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	n/k	n/k
40	882	Thursday 24th May	Kevin Laffan	Mervyn Cumming	n/k	n/k
41	883	Tuesday 29th May	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	n/k	n/k
42	884	Thursday 31st May	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	n/k	n/k
43	885	Tuesday 5th June	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	10,600,000	9
44	886	Thursday 7th June	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	9,800,000	n/k
45	887	Tuesday 12th June	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	10,300,000	13
46	888	Thursday 14th June	Simon Masters	Chris Baker	n/k	n/k
47	889	Tuesday 11th September	Andrew Holden	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
48	890	Thursday 13th September	Andrew Holden	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
49	891	Tuesday 18th September	Ken Blakeson	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
50	892	Thursday 20th September	Ken Blakeson	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
51	893	Tuesday 25th September	Ken Blakeson	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
52	894	Thursday 27th September	Ken Blakeson	Alistair Clark	n/k	n/k
53	895	Tuesday 2nd October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
54	896	Thursday 4th October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
55	897	Tuesday 9th October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
56	898	Thursday 11th October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
57	899	Tuesday 16th October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
58	900	Thursday 18th October	Michael Russell	Fiona Cumming	n/k	n/k
59	901	Tuesday 23rd October	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
60	902	Thursday 25th October	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
61	903	Tuesday 30th October	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
62	904	Thursday 1st November	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
63	905	Tuesday 6th November	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
64	906	Thursday 8th November	Tim Vaughan	Richard Holthouse	n/k	n/k
65	907	Tuesday 13th November	Hugh Miller	William Slater	n/k	n/k
66	908	Thursday 15th November	Hugh Miller	William Slater	n/k	n/k
67	909	Tuesday 20th November	Hugh Miller	William Slater	13,500,000	16
68	910	Thursday 22nd November	Hugh Miller	William Slater	n/k	n/k
69	911	Tuesday 27th November	Tim Vaughan	William Slater	13,450,000	14
70	912	Thursday 29th November	Tim Vaughan	William Slater	13,550,000	13
71	913	Tuesday 4th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	14,300,000	n/k
72	914	Thursday 6th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
73	915	Tuesday 11th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	14,300,000	11
74	916	Thursday 13th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k
75	917	Tuesday 18th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	14,400,000	10
76	918	Thursday 20th December	Michael Russell	Darrol Blake	n/k	n/k

Main Cast

Ranking	Character	Played by	Duration	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1	Alan Turner	Richard Thorp	Full year	76	193	8
1	Annie Sugden	Sheila Mercier	Full year	76	859	11
1	Dolly Skilbeck	Jean Rogers	Full year	76	507	6
1	Jack Sugden	Clive Hornby	Full year	76	459	6
1	Jackie Merrick	Ian Sharrock	Full year	76	293	4
1	Matt Skilbeck	Frederick Pyne	Full year	76	880	1
1	Pat Sugden	Helen Weir	Full year	76	317	1
8	Amos Brearly	Ronald Magill	Full year	75	876	4
9	Henry Wilks	Arthur Pentelow	Full year	72	876	8
10	Seth Armstrong	Stan Richards	Full year	70	338	1
11	Sam Pearson	Toke Townley	Until November	66	794	12
12	Donald Hinton	Hugh Manning	Full year	63	380	10
12	Caroline Bates	Diana Davies	From February	63	63	N/A
14	Samuel Skilbeck	Benjamin Whitehead	From April	44	62	16
15	Archie Brooks	Tony Pitts	Until February, April to June, October to December	38	46	18
16	Sandie Merrick	Jane Hutcheson	Match to April, from October	32	187	17
17	Jock MacDonald	Drew Dawson	Until February, May to June, October to November	24	44	15
17	Karen Moore	Annie Hulley	From September	24	24	N/A
19	Bill Middleton	Johnny Caesar	February to March, May to June, September to November	18	18	N/A
20	Tom Merrick	Jack Carr	March to April, October	12	50	N/A
21	Joe Sugden	Frazer Hines	November and December	4	763	14

Storylines

to be added

Who lives where

to be added

Awards and Nominations

to be added