Emmerdale (known as Emmerdale Farm until November 1989) is an award winning and critically acclaimed British soap opera, set in the fictional village of the same name (known as Beckindale until 1994) in West Yorkshire, England. Much of the action takes place within the fictional village pub, The Woolpack. The show was created by Kevin Laffan, with Keith Richardson serving as Executive Producer since 1986 and Anita Turner as Series Producer from January 2008. "blank">Emmerdale's new Producer", ITV.com. URL last accessed 2007-11-15 "New Corrie, 'Emmerdale' producers named"stunt 101, Digital Spy. URL last accessed 2007-11-15 Her first produced episode aired on Monday 3 March, 2008.

Emmerdale is the third most popular soap opera on _British television, behind Coronation Street and EastEnders.

The series is produced by Yorkshire Television and broadcast on the ITV network, and was first aired on 16 October, 1972. It was originally conceived and broadcast as a daytime programme in an afternoon slot, moving to its current position as an early evening programme in 1978 in most ITV regions. Anglia and Thames followed suit in the 1980s.

Emmerdale is shown from Monday to Friday at 19:00 on ITV. Every episode lasts 30 minutes, except the Tuesday edition (Thursdays if ITV screen UEFA Champions League football on the Tuesday), which lasts one hour. Repeat episodes and the omnibus of the show can be seen on ITV2.

October 2007 saw Emmerdale celebrate its 35th anniversary in dramatic style with a huge explosion ripping through Annie's Cottage caused by Victoria Sugden pouring petrol over the furniture after demanding to know who had killed her mother Sarah Sugden, seven years previously.

"Emmerdale Farm" was renamed "Emmerdale" in 1989. The rich Tate family, headed by Frank Tate, will sometime fall out with farmers (represented by the Sugdens and the Glovers) and villagers when he is expanding his economical empire. Betty Eagleton is cleaning houses in the village, as well as helping out at the tea-room, which is a good platform for her gossip-telling. Jovialic pub-owner Alan Turner, half-fraud antique specialist Eric Pollard, outcast pig-farmer Dingle family, postoffice manager Windsors, and a lot of other characters give the story quite a variation. Written by Ragnar Ståhle