A collection of beautiful photographs of the Emmerdale village in Yorkshire has been revealed ahead of the soap’s 50th anniversary.
The ITV soap was first aired on October 16, 1972, and was originally filmed in the real-life village of Arncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales before it was moved to Esholt in West Yorkshire.
After 22 years, the production moved to the Harewood estate, where a duplicate of Esholt was built, after the village became too busy to film due to congestion and disruption resulting from visits from fans of the soap who were hoping to sneak a peek at the soap’s characters in action and locations.
These images show the Emmerdale set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.
These images show the Emmerdale set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.
7. Emmerdale set in Yorkshire
In order to create a convincingly real-looking village, the set’s designers used a number of methods to effectively age the buildings including spraying the houses with yoghurt and manure to stimulate lichen to grow quickly on the walls and roofs. Photo: Lizzie Shepherd / ITV Studios / PA Wire
Steps leading up to houses were physically ground down to result in a look of centuries of weathering, and ivy and other species were introduced at a mature state so that they don’t look freshly planted. Photo: Rotor Aerial Photography / ITV Studios / PA Wire
Real gravestones were saved from an 18th century east London graveyard when it was redeveloped, and they were subsequently used in the Emmerdale graveyard which includes characters who have died in the show over the last 50 years. The characters who have died include: Carl, Matthew, Max and Tom King, Jack, Jacob, Joe and Sarah Sudgen, Chris and Frank Tate and Harry Wilks. Photo: Lizzie Shepherd / ITV Studios / PA Wire
Other gravestones include some of the soap’s crew members who have previously worked on the show but are still alive, including: Mike Long, the set designer, and Timothy J Fee, the former producer of Emmerdale. Photo: Rotor Aerial Photography / ITV Studios / PA Wire
In order for the creators to make the houses look authentic, each of the properties in the village have their own chimney fitted with small smoke machines - controlled by a switch. Photo: Rotor Aerial Photography / ITV Studios / PA Wire
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