I love Emmerdale. Its gorgeous and unique setting, its array of fabulous characters and gripping storylines over the years, and its ability to tackle serious storylines head on, and break format creatively, often set it apart from the crowd.
Over the last few years, the soap has dominated awards ceremonies, winning rightful acclaim for Meena Jutla’s (Paige Sandhu) reign of camp terror, Paddy Kirk’s (Dominic Brunt) depression and suicide attempt, and Marlon Dingle’s (Mark Charnock) sensitively handled stroke storyline.
And Faith Dingle’s (Sally Dexter) death scenes were undoubtedly the highlight of the anniversary month, bringing far more to the table than flying caravans and cows on the loose.
Recent castings have been spot on too – William Ash is right at home as the complex Caleb Miligan, and Louise Jameson is unsurprisingly a revelation.
Being able to secure returns for the iconic Kim Tate (Claire King) and Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) can also be chalked into outgoing boss Jane Hudson’s legacy.
After five years, she has stepped down, having achieved a great deal on the show.
Wanting to spend more time with her family, Jane is looking forward to a well earned rest – running one of the UK’s top shows is a more difficult job than people give credit for.
Soap bosses are held to such a high degree of scrutiny and standard, and if there is anything fans are not happy with, boy they let them know!
Listing the above paints an overall solid picture of Emmerdale and, despite dramatic reports, the show is far from being in crisis.
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However, the recent resurgence of EastEnders has helped identify how refreshing shows can put them right back on the map.
There are many things Emmerdale needs to improve on – things have become far less character led, with an over-reliance on stunts and, despite my love for the clan, the Dingles.
The often ignored older generation, lack of fresh blood who aren’t connected to existing villagers, and some storylines that are starting to feel a bit of a strain are some of the factors that it is now a good time to address.
A new pair of hands and perspective on the steering wheel will bring new ideas to the table – there’s a reason why soaps benefit a lot from regular producer changes.
We all have different thoughts when it comes to our ideal soap. I have struggled with some aspects of the show for a number of months now, and have some thoughts on what could give Emmerdale its mojo back.
The community feel
The Man Club is evidence that Emmerdale still knows how to integrate the cast in a community way, but the show really lacks the warm feeling of community that it has previously been known for.
Character groups feel very separate – the Andersons are packed with potential but are generally isolated aside from Charles leading a wedding or funeral, for example.
Many characters have deep connections and pasts with each other but at the moment, much of everything is storyline led, with a definite beginning, middle and end.
A return to the focus on character, and the village itself, will make the storylines feel less plot, and more organic.
New blood
There have been some solid castings over Jane’s tenure, but very few who join the show unrelated to existing villagers.
Many of the links have been a bit contrived – Nicola’s attacker Naomi really didn’t have to be the same character as Charles’ daughter – and introductions such as Chloe and Tom have so far felt unable to hit the mark, with explorations into the connections themselves feeling very light.
Chloe rarely interacts with Sarah anymore, while Tom’s tensions with Jimmy and Chas were resolved extremely quickly.
Bringing in some fresh new faces or even a new family could buck this trend and inject some additional new life that doesn’t have to be an add-on to an existing story.
A big name casting a la Amanda Donohoe leading the Wyldes would also bring some solid attention and buzz.
Bring back Kim Tate’s edge
This is an ongoing bugbear with me – I long dreamed of seeing superbitch Kim Tate stalking the village and lording over Home Farm once more, so when I got my wish, I was delighted.
Her return was camper than a tent shop, and great fun but unsustainable, so it was understandable that Emmerdale had to tone her down to keep her around.
Kim was still mean but started to take on some deeper dimensions. Having a grandma instinct reminded us of her heart, and her friendships with Mary and Lydia are great.
But, over the last year, Kim has completely lost that edge that makes her Kim.
There is absolutely no way that Harriet and Caleb would escape her wrath like they have done.
Crossing Kim to such an extent would doom you to some hardcore revenge, but Kim seems to have just rolled over and taken the hits.
Let’s get her back to the middle ground. Keep the layers – but re-introduce her harder side too.
A leopard can only change its spots so much – Kim will always, and should always, be utterly ruthless.
Consistency
Emmerdale’s powerful storylines are its absolute strength. When the show tackles something serious, it really treats it with care.
The aftermaths and long-running focus on Marlon’s stroke and Paddy’s mental health have been sublime – with storylines only this week revisiting Paddy’s grief over Grace, while Marlon has anxiety over getting back behind the wheel.
And the fact that the Man Club continues to be a solid staple of the village is refreshing; the story could easily have fallen into the soap mistake of being done and dusted then forgotten.
But when the show tries to get across a message, things can get a bit jarring when combined with other stories taking the same issue a lot less seriously.
Just days after raising awareness that a single punch can kill someone, a scene showed Bob smack Liam in the face with zero consequence. So, how are we treating punches?
Bernice’s equally important menopause group ran concurrently with Paddy’s Man Club, but has been played for laughs, which has felt like a major mis-step.
And, after Noah faced pretty much zero ramifications for stalking Chloe and displaying incel behaviours, he became central to a story about his girlfriend Amelia being stalked by a creep.
Noah portrayed as a hero in this scenario leaves a bit of a sour taste.
The show needs to take care not to undermine its best work in this way.
They stick to their guns when seeing these stories through, so they also need to stick to the core message.
Redemption arcs
Speaking of Noah’s redemption, the show has had a bit of an issue recently of desecrating characters and changing their personalities – only for it to be reversed with the expectation that viewers should forgive and forget.
To be fair to the current team, this is not a new issue – it still annoys many that Kerry and Amy live care-free in the village – and judge the crimes of others – when they effectively got away with killing Frank.
Noah was a character that ‘learned his lesson’ and was re-established into the fold without much furore, but it’s pretty hard to forget in this Amelia love story, that he really was a very serious danger to women not long ago.
And the character of Chas is back to being a little bit sanctimonious about the bad behaviour of others – such as Charity cheating and Caleb lying.
It’s very hard to warm to Chas again after the way she treated Paddy without any real remorse.
If Emmerdale truly wants us to forgive these characters, the redemption arcs need to be deeper and longer, with a much more detailed exploration of the behaviours and motivations behind them.
LGBTQ+ couples
It was noted during Pride Month that three LGBTQ+ couples in Emmerdale split up in quick succession – which was not a good look for a soap that actually nails it with diversity in the show, and representation for the community, character-wise.
Not all that long on from the controversial Vanity split, couples with potential, most notably the moving Heartstopper-esque pairing of Arthur and Marshall – were dropped.
Arthur’s coming out was handled beautifully and in an understated way by Emmerdale, so I am still confused by why the relationship went south so swiftly.
There are hints that Nicky will embark on a relationship with Suni, so hopefully this can be reversed to an extent that there can be a bit of joy for gay characters.
We are still rooting for Mary – and just when is Ethan going to get something to do?
Dropped stories need addressed
Emmerdale has kicked off stories that have the potential to be very interesting – but some of them just go nowhere.
The Rhona and Gus plot – which explored the concept of Rhona being asked to help her ex with having a baby – was new territory, but it was over and done with within weeks.
It left a few loose ends, with the expectation that more was to come but, months on, there is no sign of that.
Where is Chloe’s dad, after all this time and mentions of him? And why drop the big ‘Kerry is her mum’ bombshell right as Laura Norton left?
It was simply left hanging, with zero aftermath.
Tone down the huge stunts
Emmerdale knows how to put on a spectacle – some of its stunts have gone down in history, such as the motorway pile-up and Meena’s burning maze.
But, and this is more of an ITV issue, ‘Super Soap Week’ has become a bit of a problem.
It’s now the expectation that some sort of stunt has to half-destroy the village and kill off residents in October, which makes it predictable and pretty unrealistic how disaster will strike the same time every year.
There is also the pressure on Emmerdale to up the ante and beat the previous year each time, which led to a week with simply too much – a storm, a cow stampede, a man impaled on a tractor, an exploding quad bike, a crushing under a caravan – it was out of hand and the effect is diluted.
Time was, even a car crash would be extremely exciting and considered an event but it can’t be the case any more.
So with stunts, let’s mix it up a bit. Have less, and when they do happen, do they have to be in October?
And, unlike the big storm which had pretty much zero consequence (Harriet and Liv who?), there needs to be a return to character before spectacle. If we are blowing up the village, the key should be on what comes next.
‘Life will never be the same again’ can only work if, well, life is never the same again.
Less of the crime stories
How many drug dealers can one village have? There has been a reliance on short term criminals arriving – very often to create conflict for Cain – and it’s not very inspiring to see Nate now caught in a gangster style scenario. Which, again, it looks like Cain will resolve.
Two dimensional thugs and gangsters are so un-Emmerdale. And done far too regularly now to have any impact.
Does anyone even remember Dawn’s ex’s short-lived reign of terror? Or the gunman who shot David?
Dingle domination
The Dingle family is a double edged sword. They’re one of soap’s most iconic families and that should never change.
But it’s rare to see a story that isn’t Dingle connected, leaving the likes of the Sugdens and Tates hanging about in the background.
Even Caleb’s war with Kim Tate quickly became more Dingle focused.
Marlon and Faith’s stories were impeccable and there is another topical story coming to the Dingles that will undoubtedly be fantastic.
However, we need a bit less Dingle overload, it is hard to keep up and there are too many Dingles for them all to be realistically involved in each of the arcs ongoing.
But with all that is happening, each member absolutely would be part of it in real life. They need some breathing space to give it more of a family focus rather than story after story – and so do we.
Bring back Meena
Well, I can dream can’t I?
What are your thoughts? What would you change? Share your ideas in the comments below.
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