| abstract
| - Fionnuala Ellwood had decided to leave the programme to pursue other projects and writers were forced to come up with a way to write Lynn Whiteley out of the village. Deciding the most realistic option would be to have Lynn leave with Pete, Jim Millea was informed that he too would be written out of the programme. Both left in January, following the reveal of Pete's affair with Rachel Hughes, but would pop up again separately before the year was out in the dramatic hit and run storyline which killed off Pete. Sally Knyvette suffered a miscarriage early on in the year and later had to relive the ordeal as Kate Sugden lost her baby onscreen. As a result of the drunk driving hit and run story, Sally also bowed out of the programme with numerous press reports announcing that the actress had quit following a disagreement with the producer or referring to her recent miscarriage as the reason for her departure. Sally had however been considering leaving the previous Christmas but had decided to stick around for an extra year, always intending to leave before becoming typecast. In other departures for the year, Drew Dawson would appear in his last episode as Jock MacDonald after nine years and Teddy Turner would make his final appearance as Bill Whiteley before being killed off off-screen the following year. On 29th June, Emmerdale celebrated its first full year of production at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley with a party. 250 guests, consisting of cast members both past and present, attended the evening. Series creator Kevin Laffan was also in attendance. Not content with just one big party, an event took place at the Cafe Royal in London on 11th October to celebrate the show finally coming of age and turning 18. Cast members in attendance included Sheila Mercier, Arthur Pentelow, Clive Hornby, Jean Rogers, Diana Davies, Malandra Burrows, Chris Chittell, Madeleine Howard, Glenda McKay, Craig McKay, Peter Amory and Stephen Rashbrook. Crew members Keith Richardson, Stuart Doughty and Tim Fee were also in attendance. Tony Pitts returned to the serial in June as Archie Brooks returned to the village following a small break. Diana Davies also reprised her role as Caroline Bates and would appear as a recurring character for a number of years. New additions to the cast included the arrival of the Feldmann family who were meant to have resided in the village already for 26 years and new curate Tony Charlton portrayed by Stephen Rashbrook. David Fleeshman would also return to the programme as new character Charlie Aindow. Malandra Burrows also released a single at Stuart Doughty's request - 'Just This Side of Love' - which had been performed by Kathy Merrick at the Village Hall talent competition in Episode 1507. The single was released on 7" vinyl and cassette on 26th November and peaked at #11 in the Official UK Chart on 22nd December. The achievement gave Malandra the chance to accomplish the dream of performing on Top of the Pops with the track.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)