when did emmerdale start

Emmerdale first started on 16 October 1972, originally under the title Emmerdale Farm and broadcast in a daytime lunchtime slot on ITV.

Start date and first episode

• The very first episode was broadcast on 16 October 1972 on ITV in the UK.

• It began as a daytime rural soap focusing on the Sugden family, opening with the funeral of Jacob Sugden in the fictional Yorkshire village later known simply as Emmerdale.

Name and format changes

• The show was called Emmerdale Farm until 1989, when the title was shortened to Emmerdale to reflect a broader focus beyond just farm life.

• Initially a modest daytime serial, it was moved into an evening slot in 1977 and gradually expanded to multiple episodes per week, eventually becoming a flagship prime-time UK soap.

Quick context for today

• Emmerdale has been on air continuously since 1972 and remains one of ITV’s long-running soaps, with thousands of episodes broadcast.

• Over the decades it has shifted from gentle rural stories to more dramatic, issue-led plots, helping it stay prominent in British TV culture.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.