By the time episodes began to air again, Anne W. Gibbons had taken over as producer. Anne felt that the strength of the programme lay in the serial element and she set about replacing the shorter stories that featured temporary cast members and characters with longer arcs featuring permanent characters. As a result, characters were re-introduced with Stan Richards being promoted to a regular cast member as Seth Armstrong and former characters returning, albeit with new faces. Jack Sugden, Ruth Merrick, Jackie Merrick and Sandie Merrick all came back to Beckindale, now played by Clive Hornby, Helen Weir, Ian Sharrock and Jane Hutcheson respectively. Ruth Merrick had also received a new name as well as a new face - now to be known as Pat Merrick forever more. Interestingly, the first Emmerda