Emmerdale Farm in 1984

1984 was Emmerdale Farm's 13th year. Storylines included Jack Sugden's affair with Karen Moore, an explosion at The Woolpack, Harry Mowlam's feud with Jackie Merrick, the arrival of Caroline Bates at NY Estates and Jackie shooting Caroline's dog. 76 episodes were broadcast this year.
==Production==
Richard Handford oversaw his first full year of production on the programme.
On 27th September, the programme lost an original cast member as Toke Townley passed away of a heart attack. Sheila Mercier appeared before the broadcast of that night's episode, Episode 894, to pay tribute to Townley. Due to advanced filming schedules however, Townley would remain onscreen as Sam Pearson until 22nd November 1984.
Behind the scenes, there would also be another notable departure as series creator and writer, Kevin Laffan, contributed his last script for the programme. Though he would remain as a show consultant going into 1985, Laffan's last episode was Episode 882 (24th May 1984). Speaking about his departure in Lance Parkin's 30 Years of Emmerdale book, Laffan would reveal that he left the show after refusing to change a script which led to conflict with production staff.
The graphic level of farming content increased this year as scenes appeared of several sheep and a cow giving birth on screen. In addition to this, there were also scenes of aborted lambs in fields. The storyline involving Jackie Merrick shooting Caroline Bates' dog, Bundle, was treated in a similar way as viewers actually saw the shooting. This particular way of telling the story saw a number of viewers write in to the show to seek assurance that the dog portraying Bundle was indeed okay and only acting - she, of course, was.
The programme was, once again, off air for its summer break over July and August.
==Episodes==
==Main Cast==
Ranking	Character 	Played by 	Duration 	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1 	Matt Skilbeck 	Frederick Pyne 	Full year 	76 	880 	1
1 	Annie Sugden 	Sheila Mercier 	Full year 	76 	859 	11
1 	Dolly Skilbeck 	Jean Rogers 	Full year 	76 	507 	6
1 	Jack Sugden 	Clive Hornby 	Full year 	76 	460 	6
1 	Pat Sugden 	Helen Weir 	Full year 	76 	317 	1
1 	Jackie Merrick 	Ian Sharrock 	Full year 	76 	293 	4
1 	Alan Turner 	Richard Thorp 	Full year 	76 	193 	8
8 	Amos Brearly 	Ronald Magill 	Full year 	75 	875 	4
9 	Henry Wilks 	Arthur Pentelow 	Full year 	72 	876 	8
10 	Seth Armstrong 	Stan Richards 	Full year 	70 	338 	1
11 	Sam Pearson 	Toke Townley 	Until November 	66 	793 	12
12 	Donald Hinton 	Hugh Manning 	Full year 	63 	380 	10
12 	Caroline Bates 	Diana Davies 	From February 	63 	63 	-
14 	Samuel Skilbeck	Benjamin Whitehead	From April 	42 	42 	-
15 	Archie Brooks 	Tony Pitts 	Until February, April to June, October to December 	38 	46 	17
16 	Sandie Merrick 	Jane Hutcheson 	Match to April and from October 	32 	187 	16
17 	Jock MacDonald 	Drew Dawson 	January to February, May to June, October to November	24 	44 	15
17 	Karen Moore 	Annie Hulley 	From September 	24 	24 	-
19 	Bill Middleton 	Johnny Caesar 	February to March, May to June, September to November	18 	18 	-
20 	Tom Merrick 	Jack Carr 	March to April and October 	12 	50 	-
21 	Joe Sugden 	Frazer Hines 	November and December 	4 	762 	14
==Storylines==
to be added
==Who lives where==
to be added
==Awards and Nominations==
to be added
Category:1984
Category:Emmerdale year-by-year