White family to take over Emmerdale’s Home Farm | ATV Today White family to take over Emmerdale’s Home Farm October 04, 2014 Broadcasting , Soapworld Doug Lambert Emmerdale’s Home Farm will have a new family set to make their mark on village life in the coming weeks, however one of the members is a familiar name from the past. When Home Farm is put up for auction and an open day held for potential purchasers, feisty Nicola King, played by Nicola Wheeler, is rude to prospective buyer Chrissie White. She has no idea who she is and it’s typical of Nicola to make assumptions. Soon Nicola’s fibs and fabrications are blown apart by the arrival of Chrissie’s fiancé, ex-villager Robert Sugden who has joined his partner to look around the house. Before long Chrissie’s wealthy father Lawrence White arrives to inspect the property, because he wants to buy in the area and Home Farm seems just the ticket. Lawrence will be played by acclaimed actor John Bowe. Whilst his daughter Chrissie is being played by newcomer Louise Marwood.

“I am delighted to be joining the cast of Emmerdale and having already recorded scenes involving Edna’s long forgotten past, it is now fantastic to have been given the keys to Home Farm. I can’t wait to stir things up…” – John Bowe Forthright in his views, Lawrence is not impressed with Chrissie’s choice of husband and on getting wind of Robert’s reluctance to return to the village, promptly puts in an offer. Could Lawrence be determined to rock his daughter’s relationship? In his first major TV role Ryan Hawley (History Boys, both in the West End and the UK theatre tour) will play Robert Sugden. Chrissie’s troubled fourteen-year-old son Lachlan played by Thomas Atkinson is set to join his family shortly. “Home Farm has always been the seat of power in Emmerdale. In Lawrence, we have a family man, with serious status and a complex history. Robert’s going to have to prove himself worthy – not just of the big House on the Hill, but of Lawrence’s daughter, Chrissie. But will the ghosts of his past hold him back?” – Kate Oates, Series Producer Home Farm Owners A quick run down of the main owners of Home Farm through the years.

Originally Miffield Hall the manor house of Beckindale village dates back to the 1500’s although it was drastically altered in the 1700s into the Home Farm we know of today. Verney Family The first notable family were the Verney’s who occupied the sprawling mansion; they would also lease on their land a little farm known as Emmerdale to the Sugden family who remained the farmers of the land until the 1990s. Miffield Hall, and the Miffield estate, has been home to drama long before the cameras began recording village life in 1972 but its recent times that have seen its most memorable moments. First seen in Yorkshire Television’s Emmerdale Farm in 1973 Miffield Hall in its final days as a Verney family home. The then Lord Miffield, George Verney, had a run in with Jack Sugden of the Emmerdale Farm family, resulting in Verney giving Sugden a good posh horsewhipping outside the local boozer, the Woolpack Inn. Luckily for Jack George later left to live in Cannes and Miffield Hall became a teacher training college.

In 1978 following the death of George his nephew Gerald Verney took over the manor as the final short-lived last Lord Miffield. Following crippling death duties Gerald was forced to sell the family home of 400-years to pay the debts. The estate was sold to a conglomerate called North Yorkshire Estates, or NY Estates for short. It was also a time for change for the area as Beckindale Village saw Miffield Hall renamed Home Farm. NY Estates The first manager of NY Estate was the underhand Trevor Thatcher swiftly followed by Mauruce Westrop and then Richard Anstey. In 1982 a pompous oaf called Alan Turner (pictured right, with Joe Sugden) took over Home Farm and bullied and blackmailed the staff of NY Estate to get his own way. One who didn’t suffer Turner’s stupidity was groundsman Seth Armstrong who would often deliberately wind up Turner, leading to a long running catchphrase “Get out Seth!”.

Things slightly mellowed in 1984 when Turner was paired up with secretary Caroline Bates in order to improve Home Farm’s performance, it lead to a long running double act between the two, with a ‘will they, won’t they’ romance to boot. In 1988 NY Estates pulled out of Home Farm and just when people thought it couldn’t get any worse than the bully-boy Alan Turner in came new owner Dennis Rigg, who set about getting the reputation as the evilest man in Beckindale. Thankfully a bull decided to end his reign and crushed Rigg less than a year later. Tate Family It was November 1989 when the second longest running family took over Home Farm, although they couldn’t match the Verney’s 400-years. Frank Tate and his wife Kim and his two children from a previous marriage arrived to add a touch of class to the estate. This era became one of the most interesting in the history of the house with a siege, a fire, a plane crash and death by dubious behaviour, not once but twice! She may have started out as the sweet lady of the manor but it didn’t take Kim long to start seeking comfort from other men.

The much older Frank struggled to keep his marriage alive with his missus embarking on numerous affairs including with Neil Kincaid and later Dave Glover. Frank would find farmhand Glover and Mrs Tate in bed together leading to the classic line “What do you call this, overtime?” Frank of course sacked Dave from Home Farm however while Kim failed to love Frank anymore she wasn’t swift to want to leave his money. She tried to bonk him to death which lead to her unable to determine who the father was when she fell pregnant. Frank bribed her to say baby James was his rather than Dave Glover’s. Glover would later die in a fire at Home Farm while rescuing James from the blazing nursery room. The end of the Tate marriage came in 1997 when Frank died of a heart attack in the sitting room of the manor, while Kim calmly stood on and watched. Home Farm was left to Frank’s son, Chris who rather, like Rigg almost a decade before, fancied himself as the village’s most hated man. Chris was convinced that Kim had killed his father, later she admitted to Chris that she had watched Frank die.

When Chris tried to blackmail her into giving him custody of his half-brother James, Kim hit Chris over the head and tipped him out of his wheelchair, pouring whisky over him before escaping with James by helicopter. Chris had been confined to a wheelchair following the 1993 plane crash which wrecked large parts of the village – and almost killed him when part of the Woolpack Inn came crashing down, covering him in stonework. However his near death experience didn’t change his attitude and he continued to be rather vile to anyone he didn’t particularly like. Home Farm was sold briefly to Stella Jones, a lottery winner in 1998 but returned to the Tates in 1999. Chris poisoned himself in the Home Farm sitting room in 2003 in order to stitch up his then money-grabbing third wife, Charity, who had been having an affair. Chris had discovered he had a terminal brain tumour so spent all his money in order to leave her with nothing. Home Farm was left to his sister, Zoe. King Family Zoe was blackmailed into selling Home Farm, at a greatly reduced price, by the King family.

She departed the manor in 2005, but decided to give the King’s a final farewell gift. A gas explosion, the house exploded into a fireball but luckily for the King clan it survived. Businessman Tom King (pictured right), a former resident of Beckindale who decided to return to the area, moved into Home Farm with his children. And if he thought he was to have more luck in the mansion than the Tates, he was soon to be proved wrong. A bad sign should have been when Chris Tate’s ex-wife Charity started making eyes at him. But there is no fool quite like an old fool and he became involved with the vixen. Charity, once again, was set up and on their wedding day Tom called if off having been given ‘proof’ Charity was cheating on him. The King’s youngest son, Max, was killed in a road accident and other son Matthew was kicked out of the family empire for choosing love (of a far too common woman) over money. In 2006 Tom however allowed love to rule his life again and married posh bitch Rosemary Sinclair.

Their wedding day and Home Farm was to be the death of the head of the family as he fell to his death from a second floor window having being hit on the head by son Carl. Wylde Family Home Farm fell into the hands of Tom’s sons Carl and Jimmy who were forced to sell up in 2008 when the family faced financial ruin. Mark and Natasha Wylde moved in with their three children. Now surely Home Farm was to have a happy ever after… Not likely. Mark turned out to be a bigamist. Mark, real name Daniel Lamb, went missing almost 30-years earlier. He told his young wife Faye that he was going to collect a friend from a train station and never came home. They were in serious debt as his company had gone bankrupt. Daniel was later declared legally dead. Unaware of this and the fact that Faye was expecting their child, he moved to France and set up a new identity – Mark Wylde. Like Tom he also met his end when he was murdered, this time, again, keeping it in the family – as the Tate’s and King’s before them – Mark was shot dead by his wife Natasha in January 2010.

However crime finally was seen not to pay and Natasha went to prison for her shocking shooting. Macey Family The most recent Home Farm residents were the Macey family lead by another businessman – Declan Macey. From pretty much his arrival at the house it didn’t seem like things were going to go his way. He like so many before him had a dice with man-eater Charity, he chucked out his wife Ella after discovering she’d been having an affair and then the death of his daughter (who isn’t really his daughter) Mia caused a mini breakdown in that famous sitting room. A sure sign of trouble is Declan’s involvement with a Sugden. He wooed Katie Sugden, married her only to divorce after he became involved with Charity once more. Declan’s half-sister, Megan Macey arrived just in time to see financial troubles fall upon her loved one, while supportive and proactive in getting the business back on its feet he repays her with a succession of physical abuse. His life not particularly going well he decided to end it – with a fire – and ignited home farm with a handy can of petrol. He changed his mind leaving the inferno behind, until he realised Megan was inside and bravely saved her from his own blazing error.

It’s always a case of playing with fire when involved with Charity Dingle, who Declan unwisely married. If it had been bad previously, it was only a matter of time before the two schemers schemed each other into their graves. Charity had an abortion, not happy his child has been taken from him, Declan decides to murder Charity. However Charity rumbles the plot. While on holiday the pair fight with Declan knocking his missus unconscious, shoving her in boot of his car, intending to bury her body in the woods. However this time he has met his match with the tough-old-Dingle girl managing to later escape, later killing the lord of Home Farm with a metal box, via a boat, in the middle of a lake. The location is currently one of Emmerdale’s longest running places having first been seen in 1973 and regularly on-screen since 1980. The real location is Creskeld Hall in West Yorkshire.

Tagged ITV’s Emmerdale Behind the Scenes 7f79070bcab9aaa48a04bd16c6cccb8b Introduction In my Emmerdale website, I take you behind the scenes of the long running Yorkshire Television (YTV) drama serial, originally devised by Kevin Laffan. It has come a long way since starting (as Emmerdale Farm) in 1972 as a sleepy rural soap when the raciest storylines featured Jack Sugden bursting through Annie's farmhouse kitchen door, stomping his muddy boots on the mat and announcing, "By 'eck Ma, it's parky out". You've probably always wondered where the programme is filmed and whether you could visit the locations. You've maybe joined one of those coach tours advertised in the Sunday papers only to be bitterly disappointed when you end up in a village near Bradford which ceased being used for filming many years ago. Perhaps you've been lucky and have been guided around the interior sets on an official YTV Studio Tour, only to be told that the Emmerdale village is at a secret location miles away and is closed to the public.

In any case, these Studio Tours only occurred at weekends, when the sets were not being used and the cast and crew were not there. Now, due to Emmerdale going six times a week, the increased workload means that the interior sets are needed at short notice at weekends. The Studio Tours have now been suspended and bookings are no longer being taken. Here, I reveal that with a little lateral thinking, a bit of luck, some Internet research tools and, of course, my "insider" knowledge, you can find those secret filming locations and go on your own Emmerdale tours. It should be pointed out that, as many of the Emmerdale locations are on private land and some are working businesses, care should be exercised to make sure you keep to public paths and don't trespass. The good news is that the "secret" location of the Emmerdale village is criss-crossed by three famous walking routes (Leeds Country Way, Ebor Way and Dales Way) and it can be reached on foot by a leisurely 15 minute stroll along a public bridlepath. Scroll down this page and journey with me on a guided tour of all the Emmerdale filming locations.

Follow my map links by clicking on the bold references which are highlighted when hovered over. When you click on a link, a new window will open. You may have to maximise the size of this window by dragging its edges so that it fills the screen. When you've finished browsing the links, close the newly-opened window to return to this page. If you've done your own further exploration within each link, you may need to do this several times. You might need to close some pop-up advertisement windows when exploring these links. Emmerdale Live Webcams (Note: Emmerdale Webcams were switched off by ITV in October 2013) In October 2006, ITV announced the launch of a webcam at the Emmerdale Village exterior set. Take a look at the example output from October 30th, when episodes for Christmas 2006 were being filmed. Don't believe me? Click on the daylight webcam image below to switch to the night time view and notice the fairy lights adorning the Woolpack frontage, the Post Office and also the Christmas Tree itself, immediately behind Tricia's own memorial tree and bench.

Note the huge filming light near the centre of the night time picture, plus the lorry containing the camera equipment. In early 2009, another webcam was installed on the Woolpack pub looking down onto the main street, to allow potential for spotting more action close-up. Emmerdale Village Webcam image from October 2006 © Yorkshire Television Limited Click on the image above to switch between day and night! Join the Emmerdale Club The Emmerdale Club, established in 1990, is the only officially endorsed Emmerdale Fan Club. Members have the chance to visit the studios and locations and meet the cast, producers and writers. Send a large stamped, self-addressed envelope to:- Jenny Godfrey LS3 1JS Map link options Upon hitting the GO! button below, this page will be refreshed with the new map link options you have chosen (or the default ones, if you first use the RESET button). PRIVACY: If you have enabled "cookies" on your browser, the new settings will also be saved on your computer. The "cookie" only remains for your current browsing session and just contains your map preferences - nothing else. It is deleted automatically when you close your browser.

For full documentation on the map link options available just click on my Research Tools Page button also below. Map link source: From 1972, Emmerdale Farm was filmed at YTV's main TV Centre in Leeds, which had been built on city centre clearance land only four years earlier. Early exteriors for Beckindale village were shot at Arncliffe in Littondale, high in the Pennine hills. Interestingly, Littondale's old Norse name was Amerdale and this is reflected in a local hotel name and the village hall. The logistics involved in getting the crew, equipment and cast to such a remote location meant that a new village had to be found. SHOW ALL Emmerdale's new title sequence used from 30th May 2011 The impressive rail viaduct , seen in Emmerdale's opening title sequence from early 1998 until the end of Summer 2005, is known as either Wharfedale Viaduct or Arthington Viaduct and is just north of Creskeld Hall.

Until the opening titles were replaced by a newly-shot sequence in September 2005, the helicopter camera shots over the reservoirs were filmed at Fewston and Lindley Wood . The Lindley Wood sequence featured a car driving over a short three-arched viaduct across the reservoir. Another local beauty spot, Almscliff Crag made an appearance in the titles used from 1998 until 2005 too. In the new titles seen from September 2005 onwards, a brand new opening camera shot was featured using a helicopter swooping along Nidderdale at Ramsgill , heading south over Gouthwaite Reservoir towards Pateley Bridge. MORE © YTV Esholt - time to move on The use of Esholt as the village location was kept secret until a blundering official at the Bradford Tourist Board chose a photograph of Esholt's Commercial Inn (below) for the front cover of its brochure. Emmerdale fans immediately recognised it as the Woolpack Inn, Beckindale. The cat was well and truly out of the bag and the floodgates were opened for a deluge of holiday coach tours.

Ironically, many years later the Commercial was actually renamed The Woolpack and so now tourists could have their photos taken in front of the pub, without having to wait for filming days and the TV crew to put the "Woolpack Inn" façade in place. MORE This excitement was to be short-lived, as YTV found it increasingly difficult to work around the coaches full of rubberneckers (further below). On filming days, Bradford Police had to supply a constable to direct traffic through the village. Not all villagers hated the commotion, though. The Post Office doubled as a souvenir shop and one resident opened a tea shop in her large home. Of course, the pub would run dry in summer, too. The owners of a working farm right in the middle of Esholt, just opposite the post office, had to erect a sign at its private entrance announcing "This is NOT Emmerdale Farm". The site has since been transformed by James and Denise Wainhouse into the popular St. Leonard's Farm Park which provides urban farm fun for families and parties of school children. With all the chaos in Esholt, YTV had to take drastic action.

A decision was made to plough (excuse the pun) millions into a purpose-built exterior set which would obviously be closed to the public and would enable uninterrupted filming - at night too, if necessary. But where? Read on. Esholt's Commercial Inn - now renamed The Woolpack Location filming at Esholt A youthful Glenda McKay poses during a break from filming at Esholt Malandra Burrows meets fans at a charity match at Esholt Cricket Ground From Sunny Bank Mills to the Emmerdale Production Centre In 1989, the interior filming had moved out of the main studios at TV Centre to a disused woollen mill's spinning shed at Sunny Bank Mills (below) in Farsley. Journalists quipped at the time that the mills were still being used for the spinning of yarns. Farsley's main street also took over from Otley as the location for Hotten. The move was done to free-up the valuable studio space at TV Centre for other productions, like Countdown.

When the soap was threatened with the chop due to poor advertising revenue performance, Phil Redmond - creator of Channel 4 soap Brookside (which was finally put out of its misery in November 2003) - was brought in as a consultant. After his infamous plane crash episodes made with a million pounds worth of special effects (the transmission of which, in rather poor taste, coincided with the anniversary of the Lockerbie atrocity), the programme was saved. MORE Emmerdale bosses used the tenth anniversary of the show's own plane crash to stage another special effects spectacular in the Christmas 2003/New Year 2004 episodes. The village was devastated by a freak weather storm (pictured further below), causing massive damage to buildings. The dramatic weather was made with specialist large scale feature film effects equipment. However, many of the scenes showing the village's buildings being damaged were implemented by painstaking computer and video post-production work by YTV's video editing department. After the Christmas 1993 plane crash episodes, YTV celebrated its renewed ITV Network contract by sending Redmond back to Liverpool and constructing a brand new dedicated Emmerdale Production Centre , right next door to the main TV Centre in Leeds.

The new studio complex, which was opened by the then Prime Minister John Major in 1997, was trumpeted by YTV as the largest single floor TV production facility in the world. The mill at Farsley - which has its production facilities on three floors - was kept by YTV as an interior set base for Heartbeat and A Touch of Frost. In 2010 the main studios were initially earmarked for closure, but after a last minute reprieve were instead kept on and refurbished to high definition technology standards. Emmerdale subsequently moved back into the newly upgraded original studios and the Emmerdale Production Centre was sold off. Sunny Bank Mills studio at Farsley Director's Gallery at Sunny Bank Mills studio Frazer Hines studies his next script at Sunny Bank Mills The Emmerdale Storm at Christmas 2003 © YTV The Emmerdale Village exterior set at Harewood YTV explored the possibility of building a complete outdoor set on land belonging to the Queen's cousin, George Lascelles, the 7th Earl Harewood. The Earl's large Harewood Estate stretches out between Leeds and Harrogate, just north of Eccup Reservoir.

Earl Harewood's eldest son, David Lascelles, is an award winning TV and film producer, with episodes of Inspector Morse to his credit. The Emmerdale village was built around a disused farm (Stub House) at Harewood. The post code for it (and hence the OS grid co-ordinates) can be found by using the Royal Mail website, but the entry is listed as Stubb House Farm. The name Stub (or Stubb) is an Old English word meaning "tree stump" and this refers to the adjoining Stub House Plantation. MORE YTV has a long history of using the Harewood Estate, as the classic 1971 children's TV series Follyfoot (complete with "Lightning Tree, down in the meadow") had been filmed there. The programme - hugely popular in Australia and Germany as well as the UK - was based on the early 1960s novel Cobbler's Dream by Monica Dickens, a direct descendant of Charles Dickens.

Amazingly, the disused outbuildings (pictured below) used for the filming of Follyfoot Farm can still be found largely intact over 35 years later, adjoining the private Hollin Hall which is south east of the A61 at Harewood village. Note the large Hollin Hall Ponds, south of the hall, which were featured in the Follyfoot storylines too. The location can be reached on foot by a public bridleway running north-south past the neighbouring New Laithe Farm. The bridleway, which joins up with the famous Leeds Country Way walking route further south, is accessed from Harewood Avenue - the A659 Harewood to Wetherby road. The Follyfoot Farm location and the public bridleway access points are also featured on my interactive Google Maps virtual guided tour of the Emmerdale filming locations, at the end of this page. Emmerdale had also used an old disused building (further below) on the Harewood Estate for many years in the 1980s as Joe Sugden's Mill Cottage , at the private estate village of Stank. The name Stank, by the way, is an Old English word for pond.

The layout and design of Mill Cottage was copied and incorporated into Emmerdale's exterior set village, but the original filming location at Stank still stands over twenty years later - just. The now derelict building was used again in December 2006 (also further below), when Zak, Shadrach and Belle Dingle scouted around for materials to steal – sorry, "recycle" – for use in the building of Marlon and Donna's new dream home. The junk items lying in the foreground of the picture were props with which the TV crew dressed the scene, but the boarded-up windows and the "Danger - Keep Out" signs were for real. Follyfoot Farm outbuildings at Hollin Hall, Harewood The nearby Rudding Holiday Park had been used for Frank Tate's Holiday Village in the 1990s, when Emmerdale went through its "Home & Away" / "Neighbours" phase, featuring all the young cast members – the Dales babes and hunks – cavorting semi-naked around the swimming pool. It had been resurrected for the disastrous Soapstars experiment which used a Pop Idol type reality TV show to recruit a new family.

The storyliners struggled to write for them and the established actors on the show took umbrage at having the newcomers imposed on them by YTV's parent company Granada, whose other company LWT had made Soapstars. It was funny how all the Soapstars actors' scenes were shot at the Holiday Village, well away from all the other actors. You will notice that Rudding Holiday Park is near a village called Follifoot (see above and note the subtle spelling change). The home of the briefly featured Cairns family was also filmed on the Harewood Estate at Carr House . Head of the family Tony Cairns was played by actor Edward Peel, who many years earlier was one of the actors who played Tom Merrick, the first husband of Jack Sugden's first wife Pat. Are you following this? Tony Cairns' son Will was played by Paul Fox who subsequently had greater success in Coronation Street as the son of Mike Baldwin. He bedded Mike's young wife, played by another Emmerdale favourite Jacqueline Pirie who made her name as Tina Dingle. In 2003, Paul Fox landed a role as a doctor in YTV's Heartbeat spin-off, The Royal.

Indeed, it can be great fun spotting former Emmerdale actors in other YTV productions. For details on the filming location for The Royal, keep on reading to the end. An agreement was made between YTV and Harewood that, as the area is "green belt land", the Emmerdale village would be built with an initial lease of 10 years. After that period, if the contract options were not taken up or planning permission was not renewed, the site would have to be landscaped back to its original condition. A village based loosely on the layout of Esholt, but additionally incorporating the design of Mill Cottage at Stank, was built on spare land next to Harewood's Stub House Farm and work was completed in record time. Filming commenced in late 1997 and the village (below) was seen on screen for the first time in early 1998. The Emmerdale Map Repeatedly click on the map image below to zoom in to an annotated aerial photo of the Emmerdale village location. Then keep clicking to zoom out again. If you're fascinated by that, then you'll be amazed by the close-up views of the Emmerdale village on Google Earth further below.

At the end of this page, I've even provided an interactive virtual guided tour of all the filming locations using a special implementation of Google Maps, including high resolution aerial photography. Just keep on reading. Location of the Emmerdale village at Harewood - "X" marks the spot Click on the image above to zoom in to an aerial photo and then out again! Map images generated from the Get-a-map service with permission of Ordnance Survey Aerial photo data: Bruce Wilson – regular senior cameraman on Emmerdale in action (Note: Bruce passed away in September 2014 and a dedication to his memory was included in the credits of both Emmerdale and Coronation Street) A shy visitor sits on Tricia's memorial bench in front of the vets' Smithy Cottage Photo: Michael Duncan Noreen - where have I seen her before? In early 2006, a new character was introduced to Emmerdale village life, in the form of feisty pensioner Noreen Bell who caused havoc with her mischief making. She was played by Jenny Tomasin, who famously starred as Ruby Finch the scullery maid in the hugely popular 1970s ITV drama Upstairs Downstairs.

Jenny's other claim to fame is being exterminated by the Daleks in a 1985 episode of the cult BBC children's sci-fi series Doctor Who. MORE Now for something quite bizarre. Shhh - don't tell your little children, but Teletubbyland is certainly over the hills, but not that far away really. The location chosen by the independent company Ragdoll Productions for the filming of the BBC's hugely popular show for pre-school children, Teletubbies, was in the middle of farm land near the Warwickshire village of Wimpstone, near Stratford-upon-Avon - the production company's base. MORE The Teletubby Superdome can be spotted just south west of the Avon Aquatics Fish Farm at Sweet Knowle Farm, through which an access road was built for the TV crew. Note that the aerial photos on Multimap were taken in 1999 and the filming site for Teletubbies was finally abandoned in 2002, after 365 episodes had been shot - one for each day of the year.

In June 2007, the location became visible at hi-res on Google Earth, but the imagery (below) was still several years old and the farmer's fields have actually now been landscaped back to their original condition and the Superdome has gone – a large pond is in its place, as revealed by newer imagery from Getmapping. Teletubbyland at Wimpstone, Warwickshire Google Earth Superdome (left) with production buildings, car park and access road (right) Aerial photo data: – © Google Inc Aerial photo data: – © BlueSky International Limited Eh-oh, Tubby gone. Teletubbyland has now been landscaped away © Getmapping plc Channel 4's Space Cadets In December 2005, the makers of the Big Brother reality TV shows staged a spectacular hoax, claimed to be the most expensive, elaborate and technically demanding spoof in TV history, which took over a year to plan. They persuaded the gullible contestants to believe they were being taken to Space City in Russia to train as cosmonauts and be launched into near space, orbiting Earth in a shuttle.

In reality, it was all filmed at a "secret" location in the UK - a disused military base near Ipswich in Suffolk, formerly used by the USAF at the height of the Cold War. But where, exactly? Visit my Secret Bases website for all the precise filming locations, including the Space Shuttle simulator, training camp and Mission Control! © YTV Location filming in Spain - October 2005 In October 2005, the Emmerdale entourage jetted off to Spain's Costa del Sol for an hour long special broadcast at the end of November. It featured the Dingles tagging along with Eric Pollard while he attempted a dodgy business deal with the Kings. Extensive location filming took place in the popular town of Nerja and the coastal village of Punta Lara , close to Malaga Airport and the Sierra Nevada ski resort. Also featured heavily in the episode was the "Balcony of Europe" - a promenade on top of a cliff, once the site of a Moorish castle, with stunning views of the Mediterranean Sea and the beaches and coves below. The Utterly Butterly wing walk - March 2006 Mmmm ...

Terence Turner (actor Nick Brimble) meets another grisly end in Gerry Anderson's Space 1999, episode "The Metamorph" © ITV4 / Gerry Anderson Productions / ITC Entertainment The Tom King kidnap plot - September 2006 In September 2006 – in a storyline designed to lead up to the planned exit of actors Jeff Hordley, Patsy Kensit – Cain and Sadie plotted to kidnap Tom King and demand a ransom from his sons. Cain found a secret hideaway cottage in a clearing in the woods near Emmerdale which was to be used to keep Tom prisoner. But much to Sadie's anger and disgust, the plan was disastrously compromised when lustful Cain also used it to romance Woolpack barmaid Tonicha (Toni) Daggert on the side. MORE Jackdaw Quarry, Capernwray near Over Kellet, Carnforth, Lancashire © YTV Emmerdale Murder: Who Killed Tom King?

For the first five months of 2007, viewers had the chance to play a Cluedo-style game of "Whodunnit?" in a unique online interactive experience, specially created by ITV for the Christmas 2006 storyline. As members of the community of sleuths on the special web-based Emmerdale Channel, they had exclusive access to videos, emails and voice mails. MORE Ten separate murders were filmed, featuring all the possible suspects. There was even an eleventh, surprise outcome rumoured to feature all three King brothers – Jimmy, Carl and Matthew – as joint murderers. All this meant that even the cast and crew didn't know the top secret ending until the final "reveal" in a special hour long show broadcast on Thursday 17th May 2007, featuring the Emmerdale village's 500th anniversary pageant officially opened by opera star Katherine Jenkins. There was also the "sudden death of a much-loved character" – Len Reynolds.

Actor Peter Martin had already been cast as Captain Mainwaring in a touring stage production of the hit 1970s TV comedy Dad's Army, leading many fans to assume that Len Reynolds would be revealed as Tom King's killer too. As the King brothers' trial collapsed due to Rosemary's attempt to frame them all using false statements made by Hari Prassad, a shock confession was later made by the actual killer – Carl King, played by Tom Lister. So did you solve the crime before Hotten Police, by spotting the clues, following the leads and avoiding the "red herrings"? Did you figure out that Carl was the mystery hitman who ambushed Tom King on his wedding day, pushing him to his horrific death through the bedroom window, before he even enjoyed his honeymoon? Did you become a resident "Emmerdalian" to see if you could cut through the gossip and find the answer to the "killer question"? The truck crash in the lake - February 2007 In February 2007, more water-based filming took place for a storyline involving Victoria Sugden (new actress Isabel Hodgins) and Andy Sugden's ex-jailbird father Billy Hopwood (David Crellin).

Dodgy Eli Dingle had severed the brake pipes on the dustbin truck that Billy was driving, at the request of Kelly Windsor – eager to rid the village of her father's killer in a botched Post Office raid many years earlier. MORE But Billy Hopwood was actually in the process of kindly returning the wayward teenage Sugden daughter home after an illicit under age boozy night clubbing session in Leeds. In a special hour-long episode, the truck's brakes inevitably failed and the pair ended up plunging into a lake, where they both fought for their lives underwater. The driving sequence was performed in Yorkshire by stuntman Stuart St. Paul and the special effects for the crash itself were organised by stunt co-ordinator Adam Eastay. He chose a lake secluded in woodland known as Waterhouse Whin (meaning gorse, furze and thorny vegetation) within the Harewood Estate.

In fact, the lake (or large pond) is only revealed by studying Ordnance Survey maps at 1:25000 © Harrogate Ladies' College Court appearances by the Kings - March / May 2007 In November 2006, all the Emmerdale regulars crammed into the public gallery for the trial of Alan Turner's daughter Stephanie Stokes. She stunned everyone by admitting to the murder of Terence but she also implicated Adam Forsythe, prompting him to take his own life in the remand centre later. The court scenes, including Adam taunting Steph from the prison van, plus Alan Turner and Betty Eagleton fighting off press photographers, were filmed at Morley Town Hall on the outskirts of Leeds. MORE In March 2007, the same location was used when all three King brothers – Jimmy, Carl and Matthew – were arrested and appeared in court together, accused of conspiracy to murder their father in the "Who Killed Tom King?" storyline. Kelly Windsor also appeared in the same court just days later, accused of providing a false alibi for her boyfriend Jimmy King.

Later in March 2007, the King brothers made an appearance at Crown Court, with Jimmy having a heart-to-heart with new "sister" Scarlett on the court steps. The filming location switched to Wakefield Court House , on the corner of Wood Street and Cliff Parade, next to Wakefield Town Hall and directly opposite the main police station. When Kelly's full trial date finally arrived in May 2007, Jimmy arranged to meet a dodgy contact to pick up some fake passports so that he and Kelly could escape from the whole Tom King murder nightmare and start a new life together. In the end, they decided not to go ahead with the plan but Kelly arrived at court so late and was so typically mouthy that the judge placed her in custody over the weekend as punishment, before resuming the case on the Monday. The layby with the burger van chosen for the handover was at Golden Acre Park , just a short distance from Emmerdale's key filming locations around Harewood and Eccup. The same layby was used in the previous episode when Bob Hope had gone on the run following his breakdown and had slept in his son Jamie's ice cream van.

Also in May 2007, when Bob subsequently met his guiding spiritual light – in the form of mysterious tramp Errol Michaels (played by Tony Booth) – the scenes were played out around Barran's Fountain near the Upper Lake and Waterloo Lake within Roundhay Park between Leeds and Harewood. New Emmerdale character revealed – October 2007 In October 2007, a new actor joined Emmerdale. He was spotted filming at the village location with co-stars Nicola Wheeler ("Nicola de Souza") and Matthew Wolfenden ("David Metcalfe"). They are all pictured below in an exclusive photo supplied to me by a fan who had used this website to find the Emmerdale filming locations. MORE The new character appeared in storylines starting in November 2007 involving the revelation that Nicola's supposedly dead rich husband was in fact still alive (but on a life support system in hospital). Her inheritance depended on tracking down her husband Donald's son Miles, before he learned the same news from cub reporter Jasmine Thomas who was on the scent of an exclusive story for the Hotten Courier. Miles de Souza was played by Ayden Callaghan.

Donald was played by famous thespian (and regular voice-over artiste) Michael Jayston. The private hospital where Jasmine followed Nicola as she visited Donald was the Leeds Nuffield Hospital New character "Miles de Souza" – actor Ayden Callaghan (far left) with Matthew Wolfenden ("David Metcalfe") and Nicola Wheeler ("Nicola de Souza") Pictured during a break from location filming in October 2007 Emmerdale Train Crash – October 2010 Jackson and Aaron's van hit by train at level crossing Yet another major stunt was filmed for Emmerdale's storyline in October 2010 featuring Aaron Livesey's (actor Danny Miller) boyfriend Jackson Walsh (Marc Silcock) careering off the road in a van at a level crossing and being hit by an oncoming train. The sequence used the preserved Great Central Railway (Nottingham) at Ruddington in Nottinghamshire next to Rushcliffe Country Park. The Asher Lane level crossing was used and a real Class 47 diesel locomotive (number 47292) was driven by a member of the railway preservation society.

MORE Meanwhile, as Emmerdale was broadcasting the train crash in October which had been filmed in Ruddington in August, Coronation Street was filming the spectacular special effects for the 50th Anniversary specials in December 2010. A massive explosion in The Joiners bar in the viaduct arches causes a collapse, bringing a Manchester Tram crashing down. Emmerdale Train and Van Crash – October 2010 © ITV Emmerdale Sky Dive – May 2011 Jackson's skydive at old World War II airfield – formerly RAF Hibaldstow – at Brigg near Scunthorpe Actor Marc Silcock volunteered to do the parachute drop himself rather than leaving it to a stunt performer. While Jackson, his mother Hazel and Jackson's on-off boyfriend Aaron went on a May Bank Holiday break to Whitby in the story, the filming was done at Hibaldstow Airfield back in March 2011. Emmerdale Valentine's Day Massacre – February 2012 John Barton's exit filmed on Ilkley Moor Actor James Thornton had announced his decision to leave Emmerdale after two years appearing as the head of the Barton family.

He was tipped as a chief suspect for Cain's brutal attack at Christmas 2011. His final scenes were filmed in early January 2012 during long night shoots until 3am, high up on the moorland near Ilkley, above the villages of Silsden and Riddlesden. Various locations surrounding Nab End Quarry were chosen for complicated stunt sequences involving cars ... and fake boulders. Emmerdale's use of Stub House Farm at Harewood Before the Emmerdale Village had been built, Stub House Farm and its outbuildings on the Harewood Estate (further below) had for some time been used as locations for the Dingles' Farm, Eric Pollard's factory and the home of the Reynolds family - the latter being referred to as Holdgate Farm in the show. It was then occupied by the Marsdens, most of whom were written-out at the end of 2003 after only nine months on the show. In March 2004, yet another family - the Kings - moved into Holdgate Farm. MORE YTV cleverly built the replica village right next to these locations so that they could all be seen in each other's background shots.

The production designers also managed to incorporate Stub House Beck - a stream running through the site from Harewood House - by having a ford at one end of the village and a humpback bridge at the other end. The Dingles' Farm is also sometimes referred to as Wishing Well Cottage and sure enough, there is a real well (known as Langley Well ), indicated nearby on the OS map. A signpost erected at the Harewood village location indicates that the market town of "Hotten" is supposed to be 8 miles away and the neighbouring villages of "Connelton" and "Robblesfield" are both just over 3 miles away.

Looking north towards Stub House Farm, Harewood YTV's private access road and the Dingle residence (left) and public bridleway (right) "Holdgate Farm" - the Reynolds' / Marsdens' / Kings' home at Stub House Farm Eric Pollard's factory at Stub House Farm Emmerdale signpost at the Harewood location showing distances to Hotten, Connelton and Robblesfield More Emmerdale filming locations around Harewood Transportation concerns meant that a brand new approach road to the village location had to be built for the TV crew, access to which was made through Burden Head Farm (below). It is another farm owned by the Harewood Estate and was used as the final metamorphosis of Jack Sugden's farm. In September 2007, a large barn at the farm was used as the location for Zak Dingle's bare-knuckle fight contest. MORE The YTV access road can clearly be seen on the aerial photo . The farm itself can be seen in the middle left of the photo. The access road goes through the farm and takes a sudden turn south, before suddenly turning again to continue east.

Use the navigation buttons on the Multimap site to follow the road east towards Stub House Farm and the Emmerdale village. The first replacement for Jack's farm (immediately following the loss of use of the Lindley location) was at Bank Side Farm (also below), not far away. It was known in the show as Hawthorn Cottage and it was due to be a new start for troubled Jack and Sarah, until poor Sarah perished in a mysterious barn fire. In 2003, animals made a surprise guest appearance in Emmerdale again, when young farmer Andy Sugden and his girlfriend Katie Addyman (Sammy Winward) set up home together at Butler's Farm . In the storyline, it is supposed to be on the Tates' Home Farm Estate land. In reality, it is filmed just a short distance down the lane from Burden Head Farm, at Brookland Farm in the village of Eccup. The new filming location was used increasingly throughout 2003, until it was a focal point for the Sugdens struggling to save the farm animals in the Christmas/New Year storm.

As 2004 started, the storylines reached explosion point with farmer's wife-to-be Katie succumbing to the questionable charms of Andy's best man (and brother) Robert. In September 2004, Butler's Farm was the scene of yet more scandalous action when Andy Sugden, then estranged from Katie, ended up deflowering schoolgirl Debbie Dingle (or to be pedantic, "Debbie Jones", played by young actress Charley Webb) - daughter of Emmerdale's resident psychopath Cain Dingle. In May 2007, at the time of the "reveal" for the "Who Killed Tom King?" storyline, the stunt for the car crash in which Louise Appleton (Emily Symons) was badly injured was filmed along the minor road north of Eccup heading towards Weardley, going past Brookland Farm, Burden Head Farm and Eccup's village pub, the New Inn (further below).

Burden Head Farm Eccup's New Inn gets a starring role - May 2006 The car park at Eccup's New Inn (below), just up the road from Brookland Farm, is sometimes used by the TV crew as a temporary location facilities base when they are filming for Butler's Farm scenes. The New Inn makes a great stop for lunch too, when you're planning your own Emmerdale location tour holiday trips. MORE On Tuesday 9th May 2006, the New Inn finally got its moment of TV glory when it was featured as an Emmerdale filming location in its own right. Both the interior and exterior of the pub were used in several scenes for the episode in which Lesley Meredith (actress Sherrie Hewson) went down memory lane on a lunch date with her old flame from 30 years earlier, Bobby-John Downes. They danced together around the classic style jukebox, much to the bemusement of the Eccup regulars. Bobby-John was played by Brian Hibbard, veteran of many TV soap appearances and the founder & former lead singer of 1980s a cappella group The Flying Pickets.

© YTV The romance was rekindled, leading to the pair walking hand-in-hand into the sunset in a later episode, thereby completing Sherrie's departure from the show. Lesley also arranged an illicit afternoon of passion in a luxury suite of the Skipdale Hotel, Kelly Windsor's credit card. After being found out, she was paraded in her underwear around the car park of the filming location, the Weetwood Hall Hotel near Leeds. It has become a regular Emmerdale location and was used in August 2007 when Chastity Dingle woke up next to a dead businessman after a particularly boozy and energetic night in his room. It is also the venue for the Emmerdale Fan Club's annual gala weekend, but the same shocking antics are never in evidence of course. The New Inn at Eccup - Brookland Farm is further down the road Photo: Location facilities A Location Facilities Building (further below) was added right next door to (just north of) Stub House Farm at Harewood to provide catering, make-up and costume departments, etc.

Before September 2005, it was just possible to make out the Facilities Building on Emmerdale's opening title sequence, which was filmed in 1997 from a helicopter flying low across the newly-built village from the south east, towards the north west. MORE In the old title sequence (pictured below), Stub House Farm and its outbuildings, used for the Reynolds' / Marsdens' / Kings' home, the Dingles' Farm and Eric Pollard's factory, can all be seen in the distance in the middle of the TV picture. The Facilities Building is on the far right. Note that the field behind the vets' surgery (between the village and Stub House Farm) is still awaiting the growth of new grass, planted by the production designers. The Location Facilities Building, with car park to the rear, can be seen at the top left of Multimap's aerial photo . It is a temporary "log cabin" type structure and so can be dismantled if Emmerdale is forced to leave the Harewood location whenever the lease expires and is unable to be renewed.

Location Facilities Building and catering van Visiting the Emmerdale village location at Harewood The bad news is that the Emmerdale village itself is not accessible. Obviously, YTV spent millions on it - they don't want the same trouble they had with Esholt. Any dreams you may have had of walking past the Woolpack and peering through Betty Eagleton's net curtains must stay just that - dreams. The two access lanes down to the village from Stub House Farm are gated and protected by 24 hour camera surveillance and security staff. The gates are locked unless it's a filming day. If, like me once, you turn up on a filming day, you are quite within your rights to walk past the Dingles' Farm and Eric Pollard's factory, but you are likely to be politely asked to wait by the Unit Manager until the camera shots have been taken. On many occasions when watching the programme, I have noticed ramblers in brightly coloured cagoules walking in the background of scenes shot at the Dingles' Farm. The good news is that, as Stub House Farm itself is on a public bridleway, you can reach it from the main road at this point .

There's even a convenient lay-by here, in which to leave your car. The bridleway running west-east extends along the north of the Emmerdale village so you can walk around the back of the Woolpack. The bridleway running north-south goes right past the Dingles' Farm, the Kings' home and Eric Pollard's factory. Do not go through any gates. Also, do not attempt to approach via the YTV access road at Burden Head Farm. You will almost certainly be apprehended and prosecuted for trespass. Just remember to stick to the public rights of way indicated on the OS maps and don't deviate. Bear in mind that you're on the Harewood Estate. Watch out for horsey women in headscarves and large ruddy-faced gentlemen with shotguns, shouting "Get orf my land"! Have fun and keep watching Emmerdale

Question: In what Soap would you expect to find Miffield Hall later renamed to Home Farm Manor?
Answer: Emmerdale