Emmerdale: Anatomy of a Hit

On the 10th of March 2017, the Yorkshire Centre held a day of events celebrating a hugely successful year for Yorkshire's homegrown soap, Emmerdale. 

Over 270 students attended a series of workshops and master classes led by members of rhe Emmerdale production team for the design, costume, make-up, story, scheduling, camera, sound and writing departments.

In the eveing session, Series producer Iain MacLeod explained how important it was that the stunt had both an emotional and visual impact on the Emmerdale audience. Writer Maxine Alderton talked about the genesis of the story and how important it was to make sure it provided ongoing character stories for the weeks and months that followed. Director Duncan Foster discussed the technical challenges, including filming in a submerged car on the Pinewood underwater stage. Head of design Gillian Slight talked about how the Emmerdale design team met the demands of the scripts, including refurbishing a stretch of race track at Longcross Studios to look like a busy road, building a footbridge and ensuring road markings looked suitably faded. Nader Mabadi, who scheduled and budgeted the super soap week, which attracted audiences of more than 7 million every night, paid tribute to the whole Emmerdale team and how they pulled together to make the episodes.