HELI DISASTER
HOME FARM SIEGE ROAD CARNAGE KILLER STORM I never imagined it would still be going – I wish I had shares in it FRAZER HINES
A PLANE crash, a helicopter disaster, 24 murders, countless raunchy affairs and Marti Pellow singing in The Woolpack.
A lot has changed since Emmerdale first hit our screens this week in October 1972.
Known then as Emmerdale Farm, it started as a rural daytime drama about the gritty lives of the Sugden family in a tiny Yorkshire farming community.
Today, it is a TV juggernaut, not only winning the top gong at the British Soap Awards for the past two years but also walking off with this year’s Bafta for Best Continuing Drama.
Now, as the nation’s official favourite soap turns 45, some of its biggest stars have been reunited in The Woolpack and, just like the fans, they are shocked at how quickly the time has gone.
Frazer Hines, 73, appeared as local lothario Joe Sugden in the first episode and starred in the show for 22 years.
He said: “I can’t believe it has been 45 years. We were only contracted for 12 episodes originally.
“I never imagined it would still be going – I wish I had shares in it.”
Malandra Burrows, 51, was 18 when she was cast straight out of drama school as Kathy Bates.
She was one of the soap’s most popular characters for 16 years before leaving in 2001.
Malandra said: “It makes me feel younger coming back. It has transported me back in time. I was only meant to be in three episodes. I always felt really lucky that I had such a great job.”
The soap now pulls in almost seven million viewers, five nights a week, and has won critical acclaim for its recent Ashley Thomas dementia storyline – plus staggering stunts such as last year’s Hotten Bypass crash.
Emmerdale has also tackled issues including child sexual abuse, HIV and marital rape, playing out storylines with families including the Sugdens, the Tates and the Dingles.
And, of course, it has launched the careers of many household names – including Lisa Riley, Sheree Murphy, Roxanne Pallett and pin-ups such as Tim Vincent and Danny Miller.
Aged 28 when he joined, Frazer was one of the first heartthrobs – becoming known as the “Ram of the Dales” because of Joe’s womanising ways.
He said: “For me, a young Yorkshire lad who liked horses, the outdoor life and women, it was perfect – no acting required, it was the ideal role.
“In those days, you couldn’t show people in bed, so Joe used to take his girlfriends back to this rug he had in front of the fire in his cottage. I used to get fan letters off people asking if they could borrow Joe’s rug for the weekend because of the romantic success he had on it. I could’ve sold that rug many times over.”
Frazer used to be bombarded with fan mail and, for his birthday, casting directors even asked his favourite actress, Jenny Hanley, to perform a cameo as a woman who wanted to buy a sheep.
As Kathy, Malandra had one of the most complicated on-screen love lives on the soap and earned a reputation as a black widow after two of three husbands were killed off.
She was also at the centre of one the most explosive love triangles, when