Ey Up! Emmerdale Farm were great

The pastoral charm and pace of the original Emmerdale Farm (which first aired in 1972 and was shortened to Emmerdale in 1989) was abandoned for grittier storylines and, notably, a sensational one featuring a plane crash screened as a Christmas special in 1993.

But many will remember the show’s early days. The upright Sugdens, who owned the eponymous holding just outside the village of Beckindale. Annie Sugden, the steadfast matriarch, rarely seen without her floral pinny and her son, ladies’ man, Jack –he of the waxed jacket and flat cap fame.

Coming from tough Yorkshire stock, Annie was a dominant woman of few words. “Pull up another chair, lad,” she told the prodigal Jack on his return to the farm to claim his inheritance, “there’s food on table.” In those days an escaped flock of sheep was an exciting cliffhanger. By ‘eck times have changed!