Emmerdale to go live for 40th anniversary?

Tabloid reports claim Emmerdale is to follow in the footsteps of Coronation Street, The Bill and EastEnders and air a live episode.

The Sun reports that bosses are hoping to follow the successes of EastEnders and Coronation Street last year which both produced live episodes for their anniversaries. EastEnders celebrated its 40th anniversary by revealing the murderer of Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb) was Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) while Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) fell off the Queen Vic roof to his death. The special live 30 minute episode was seen by 20 million viewers while over 4 million tuned into BBC Three for an aftermath behind-the-scenes special.

The 50th anniversary of Coronation Street was marked with its spectacular tram-crash, a multi million pound stunt, which saw several residents killed off. The one-hour live episode dealt with the immediate aftermath of the tram-crash and was seen by 15 million viewers. Corrie marked its 40th anniversary in 2000 with a special live episode as well. ITV police drama The Bill also produced two live episodes in the mid 2000’s. Given the success of Corrie and EastEnders’ live episode it now seems Emmerdale plans to mark its 40th anniversary in a similar way.

“No storylines have been decided yet.  Bosses want a big surprise and a big disaster. Corrie pushed the limits with their live stunts last year.” – An insider quoted in The Sun

Emmerdale has become famous for its regular use of stunts – often explosive – too boost ratings. It’s already had a plane crash, a gale, numerous fires/explosions and car crashes. So you do have to wonder just what tragedy will befall the small Yorkshire village next! It’s all a far cry from the early days of the soap when it was titled Emmerdale Farm, aired in the daytime, and revolved around the farming Sugden family and the residents of the nearby village of Beckindale – only renamed Emmerdale in 1994 after the plane-crash. In the late 1980s the soap attempted to ditch its “farm” look and sexed itself up with the introduction of the Tate family and the dropping of the “farm” from its titles. It was the 1993 plane-crash, masterminded by Brookside‘s Phil Redmond, that really put the soap on the map and saved it from being axed.