Emmerdale Farm in 1981

1981 was Emmerdale Farm's 10th year. Production was overseen by producer Anne W. Gibbons.
68 episodes were broadcast during the year. Major storylines included Pat Merrick's divorce from Tom Merrick and her growing relationship with Jack Sugden, a break-in at Emmerdale Farm with the burgular accidentally fatally running over sheepdog Snip, Amos Brearly being sacked from the Hotten Courier and setting up rival newspaper the Beckindale Bugle and Richard Anstey's affair with his boss' wife, Virginia Lattimore. 
==Production==
Anne W. Gibbons continued as producer for her second year onscreen. Her only notable addition to the cast this year was Drew Dawson as NY Estates workman Jock MacDonald who, while only appearing in two episodes this year, would go on to appear consistently through the remainder of the decade.
A dispute at Yorkshire Television called a halt to filming in October as seventy electrician staff went on strike, in response to four workers being suspended. The strike lasted from the 1st October through to the 29th. The programme only had enough episodes banked to air until Episode 696 which aired on 5th November and, as a result, was pulled from the schedule a month early, with repeats going out in the afternoon to keep the show in the public eye. Shooting began for the next block once the dispute was resolved but these would not be seen on screen until January 1982, beginning with Episode 703. As a result of the strike, Episode 697 to Episode 702 never made it to the screen and though Lance Parkin's 30 Years of Emmerdale book notes that the episodes were "made but never transmitted", there is no evidence to suggest that when production resumed these episodes were filmed.
In November 1981, Stan Richards (as Stan & The Gang) released a single on 7" vinyl titled 'Grandad's Motto'. The song was based on a Yorkshireman's advice to his son and captured the essence of Seth Armstrong's character ("See all, hear all, say nowt. Eat all, sup all, pay nowt!"). The track was written by Geoff Ashford and released on the Spy 80 label.
The programme once again took a summer break, this time remaining off air over July and August.
==Episodes==
==Main Cast==
Ranking	Character 	Played by 	Duration 	Number of Episodes	Running total	Previous year's ranking
1 	Henry Wilks 	Arthur Pentelow	Full year 	68 	666 	1
1 	Matt Skilbeck 	Frederick Pyne 	Full year 	68 	664 	3
1 	Joe Sugden 	Frazer Hines 	Full year 	68 	653 	7
1 	Dolly Skilbeck	Jean Rogers 	Full year 	68 	295 	7
1 	Jack Sugden 	Clive Hornby 	Full year 	68 	246 	6
6 	Amos Brearly 	Ronald Magill 	Full year 	66 	663 	1
6 	Seth Armstrong	Stan Richards 	Full year 	66 	130 	11
8 	Richard Anstey	Carl Rigg 	Full year 	62 	111 	10
8 	Pat Merrick 	Helen Weir 	Full year 	62 	102 	13
10 	Sandie Merrick	Jane Hutcheson 	Full year 	61 	79 	14
11 	Jackie Merrick	Ian Sharrock 	Full year 	60 	78 	14
12 	Annie Sugden 	Sheila Mercier 	Full year except February 	54 	654 	5
12 	Sam Pearson 	Toke Townley 	Full year except March 	54 	614 	4
14 	Donald Hinton 	Hugh Manning 	Until February, April to September	40 	189 	12
15 	Tom Merrick 	Edward Peel 	January to April 	12 	24 	17
16 	Jock MacDonald	Drew Dawson 	November only 	2 	2 	-
==Storylines==
to be added
==Who lives where==
to be added
==Awards and Nominations==
to be added
Category:1981
Category:Emmerdale year-by-year