Emmerdale Farm in 1985

1985 was Emmerdale Farm's 14th year. Storylines included Alan Turner running down and hospitalising Jackie Merrick, an armed robbery on a security van, a crop spraying incident which lead to the poisoning of twelve toddlers and the arrival of Kathy and Nick Bates. 93 episodes were broadcast this year.
==Production==
Richard Handford continued his run of producer for a second complete year.
Following the arrival of Caroline Bates the previous February, the decision was made to introduce her two children, Kathy and Nick Bates. Both would go on to remain with the programme for a considerable amount of time. Stephen Marchant was cast as Alan Turner's son, Terence. Terence would go on to have a brief relationship with Sandie Merrick before departing Beckindale. The character would return again over twenty years later, played by a different actor.
With the arrival of new BBC soap EastEnders in February, ITV made more of an effort to push Emmerdale Farm. As a result, the programme's typical summer break was shortened, remaining off air for just under a month in August - the shortest period of time since 1977. Emmerdale Farm found itself often competing with EastEnders in the 7.00pm slot in many regions of the country and consistently found itself beating the London-based soap in the direct head-to-heads. By August, the BBC moved EastEnders to the 7.30pm slot in order to avoid the competition. Following the summer break in September, all ITV regions began showing the same episode on the same day.
To prove its worth in the prime time slot, the decision was taken to increase the programme's pace and begin bigger and more topical stories. Series creator Kevin Laffan was reportedly increasingly unhappy with some of the changes, apparently objecting to the increase of sex, violence and gore within the show and was also concerned that the character of Annie Sugden was softening. In August, Laffan stepped down from the programme and made very little input thereafter. Despite his objections to the increase in sex in the show however, Jack Sugden's affair with Karen Moore seemed to prove a hit with those who tuned in, as viewing figures reached their highest in the show's run thus far. Press also began to change their opinions as reports from the likes of the Sunday People claimed that "infidelity and intrigue have transformed the once-sleepy story of Yorkshire folk into the Dynasty of the Dales".
November saw Emmerdale Farm celebrate its 1,000th episode. The event was marked with a Variety Club lunch held at the Queen's Hotel in Leeds on 7th November. HRH Princess Michael of Kent infamously attended the event, failed to recognise any of the cast and revealed she didn't actually watch the show. Onscreen, the event was covered in a tribute special - Emmerdale Farm Celebrates, hosted by Richard Whiteley.
In December, The Woolpack lost one of its best customers as Walter, portrayed by Al Dixon, made his final appearance prior to Dixon's death in 1986.
==Episodes==
==Main Cast==
Ranking	Character 	Played by 	Duration 	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1 	Matt Skilbeck 	Frederick Pyne 	Full year 	93 	973 	1
1 	Amos Brearly 	Ronald Magill 	Full year 	93 	968 	8
1 	Annie Sugden 	Sheila Mercier 	Full year 	93 	942 	1
1 	Dolly Skilbeck 	Jean Rogers 	Full year 	93 	600 	1
1 	Jack Sugden 	Clive Hornby 	Full year 	93 	553 	1
1 	Seth Armstrong 	Stan Richards 	Full year 	93 	431 	10
1 	Pat Sugden 	Helen Weir 	Full year 	93 	410 	1
1 	Jackie Merrick 	Ian Sharrock 	Full year 	93 	386 	1
1 	Sandie Merrick 	Jane Hutcheson 	Full year 	93 	280 	16
10 	Alan Turner 	Richard Thorp 	Full year 	91 	284 	1
10 	Samuel Skilbeck	Benjamin Whitehead	Full year 	91 	133 	14
12 	Caroline Bates 	Diana Davies 	Full year 	89 	152 	12
13 	Henry Wilks 	Arthur Pentelow 	Full year 	87 	963 	9
14 	Donald Hinton 	Hugh Manning 	Full year 	56 	436 	12
15 	Terence Turner 	Stephen Marchant 	April to December 	55 	55 	N/A
16 	Bill Middleton 	Johnny Caesar 	January to July and October 	47 	65 	19
16 	Sita Sharma 	Mamta Kash 	From May 	46 	46 	N/A
18 	Archie Brooks 	Tony Pitts 	February to May, July to August, October and December	43 	89 	15
19 	Jock MacDonald 	Drew Dawson 	April to August 	31 	75 	17
20 	Karen Moore 	Annie Hulley 	February to August and December 	24 	48 	17
21 	Tom Merrick 	Jack Carr 	February to April 	11 	61 	20
22 	Kathy Bates 	Malandra Burrows 	From November 	8 	8 	N/A
23 	Joe Sugden 	Frazer Hines 	January only 	6 	768 	21
24 	Nick Bates 	Cy Chadwick 	From November 	3 	3 	N/A
==Storylines==
to be added
==Who lives where==
to be added
==Awards and Nominations==
to be added
Category:1985
Category:Emmerdale year-by-year