Emmerdale Farm (lost episodes of ITV soap opera; existence unconfirmed; 1981)
Emmerdale Farm logo.
Status: Existence Unconfirmed
Emmerdale Farm is a long-running British soap opera. Broadcast on ITV since 1972, the show has been on the air for over 50 years. In October 1981, a strike at Yorkshire Television caused the show to go into hiatus from November 1981 to January 1982. Consequently, Episodes 697 to 702 were never broadcast, though their existence has since been disputed.
Background
Emmerdale Farm (now known simply as Emmerdale) was created by Kevin Laffan, a rural soap opera featuring storylines occurring primarily within a fictional Yorkshire Dales village.[1][2] Originally intended as an afternoon television show that would last for three months, its popularity has led to it receiving prime-time television slots, generally attracting around 5 million viewers per episode.[1][2] It was also declared the Best British Soap at the 2016 British Soap Awards.[3] Its most famous episode aired in December 1993, featuring a plane crash that killed several characters and attracting a record 18 million viewers.[4][2]
The show's production was affected by two strikes.[5][6][7] In 1979, a major ITV strike lasting from August to October 1979, affecting all of its shows including Emmerdale Farm.[5] Another strike occurred in October 1981, concerning a dispute between Yorkshire Television and its electricians.[6][7] This lasted throughout much of October, forcing Emmerdale Farm to go on hiatus once Episode 696 was broadcast on 5th November.[7][6] The show would not air new episodes until 12th January 1982.[7][6] Strangely, the first episode broadcast following the hiatus was listed as "Episode 703".[7][6] It therefore suggested that apparent Episodes 697 to 702 were produced, but an executive decision was made to leave them untelevised.[6][7]
Status
Disputes emerge over whether Episodes 697 to 702 actually existed.[8][9][10][6][7] According to show storyliner Lance Parkin in his book 30 Years of Emmerdale, the episodes were officially made but were ultimately never transmitted.[6] However, when prompted regarding the episodes' status, ITV Archive insists no traces of the episodes ever existed because the aforementioned strike halted production.[9][10][8] This therefore creates an unexplained episode title anomaly, which remains as of the present day.[7][9][10] Because of the conflict surrounding the episodes' status, Kaleidoscope lists them as "missing, but was probably never made in the first place".[8]
A suggestion that may help to confirm or deny the existence of 697-702 would be to watch Episodes 696 and 703 to determine whether the narrative occurs seamlessly, or contains unexplained elements that may have arisen from the scrapped episodes.[10] However, the limited home media and streaming release of Emmerdale makes this tougher to achieve.[9]
See Also
- Beacon Hill (lost television soap opera; 1975)
- Coronation Street "Episode 1202" (lost episode of ITV soap opera; 1972)
- The Corsairs (lost pilot for ABC soap opera; 2002)
- Dark Shadows "1219" (partially found episode of gothic soap opera TV series; 1971)
- EastEnders (lost broadcast tapes of BBC soap opera; 1986; 1989)
- EastEnders (lost footage of Frances Cuka's scenes and Barbara Windsor's auditions as Peggy Mitchell; 1991-1994)
- EastEnders (lost footage of Jean Fennell as Angie Watts; 1984)
- El Oasis (partially found Latin American telenovela; 1994-1997)
- Executive Suite (partially found television soap opera; 1976-1977)
- Faraway Hill (lost early soap opera; 1946)
- Florizel Street (lost dry runs of Coronation Street; 1960)
- Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato (lost Filipino TV soap opera; 1962-1963)
- Models Inc. (found primetime soap opera; 1994-1995)
- Neighbours "Episode 3896" (partially found episode of Australian soap opera; 2001)
- O Direito de Nascer (lost adaptation of a radio play to TV; 1964)
- Pardon the Expression (lost pilots of Coronation Street sitcom spin-off; 1965)
- Seven, Bessie Street (partially found soap opera script of Coronation Street creator; pre-1957)
- Springhill (partially lost second series of British soap opera; 1997)
- United! (lost British soap opera; 1965-1967)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Independent detailing the origins of Emmerdale Farm. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Yorkshire Evening Post summarising the show's key moments and noting it attracts around 5 million per episode. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ The Daily Mirror reporting on Emmerdale winning the Best British Soap at the 2016 British Soap Awards. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ Metro summarising the plane crash episode. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Guardian detailing the 1979 ITV strike. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 30 Years of Emmerdale claiming the episodes were made but were never broadcast. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Emmerdale Archive noting the episodes were not broadcast, the show restarting with Episode 703. Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Kaleidoscope listing the episodes as "missing, but was probably never made in the first place". Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Kaleidoscope Facebook group discussing the alleged missing episodes (private group). Retrieved 4th Feb '23
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Kaleidoscope Facebook group discussing the alleged missing episodes and the idea of viewing Episodes 696 and 703 to determine the other episodes' existence (private group). Retrieved 4th Feb '23