'80s Emmerdale Farm: Amos Brearly - The Marrying Kind?

Emmerdale Farm: Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) - marriage plans in 1988.

Sheila writes:

Much is made of Amos's proposal of marriage to Annie Sugden - purely for business reasons - in 1972. But was Amos ever romantically involved with a woman during the 1980's? I do seem to recall something, but can't  quite remember!

Yes, Sheila, he was. In October 1988, Amos came close to marrying old acquantance Gloria Pinfold (Hope Johnstone). A personable woman, she dominated the blustering landlord and caused Henry Wilks (Arthur Pentelow) great irritation when she moved into The Woolpack and threw out the sausages and bacon because of their high cholesterol content. She also crticised Henry's book keeping.

Amos told Henry he was going to marry Gloria.

Henry would have to leave The Woolpack.

It looked like the days of one of Beckindale's best-loved duos were numbered, until Gloria called off the engagement and went off with someone else.

Amos and Mr Wilks continued their partnership until early 1991, when Amos retired.

1985: Happy Days For Emmerdale Farm...

From the TV Times, 6-12 July, 1985. Some interesting soap predictions can be found under 2000 - a watch-this-space odyssey.

The serial is heading for greater days yet. In September, after its summer break during which some regions will see selected repeats of programmes, all ITV regions will finally be showing the same episode on the same day...

Synopsis for 9 July 1985.

Amos the bee-keeper!

Alan Turner on horseback and the programme synopsis for 11 July 1985.

Seth and Jenny - the donkey which ran amok at Beckindale's 1985 village fete.

1982: Emmerdale Farm's 10th Anniversary

The Press Pack logo for the tenth anniversary.

From our sister blog, The Beckindale Bugle:

October 1982 saw a very special anniversary for Emmerdale Farm. The show completed its first decade on-screen, having first been shown as a lunchtime soap on 16 October 1972.

To celebrate, Yorkshire Television screened a special programme - A Decade Down On The Farm, featuring the show's creator, Kevin Laffan, and the remaining original cast members, Sheila Mercier (Annie Sugden), Toke Townley (Sam Pearson), Frazer Hines (Joe Sugden), Frederick Pyne (Matt Skilbeck), Ronald Magill (Amos Brearly) and Arthur Pentelow (Henry Wilks) reflecting on ten years of the programme.

The show was presented by Yorkshire Television presenter Richard Whiteley (who, from November 1982, would become nationally famous as presenter of Channel Four's Countdown).

Kevin Laffan was interviewed by Richard Whiteley at Lindley Farm, then the exterior location for Emmerdale Farm:

Richard: "Kevin, I suppose at the time when it was suggested, everyone just said: 'What's this going to be - just a TV version of The Archers'?"

Kevin: "Yes, they did - but, of course, it isn't - nothing like it."

Richard: "In what way is it different?"

Kevin: "Well, we're not aimed at giving information to farmers to start with. We are simply concerned with showing a family living its life on a farm."

Richard: "And is the idea we should envy this family living on the farm?"

Kevin: "Yes, the idea... when we first talked about the serial, the idea was that we would create a situation where we would have a programme that people living in cities, engaged in the routine business of earning a living, would be able to see the kind of life that they would perhaps want to escape to."

Location filming for episode 759 in 1982.

Filming in Esholt (Beckindale) in 1982 - Pat Merrick (Helen Weir) and her son, Jackie (Ian Sharrock) chat at the bus stop.

Richard interviewed Sheila Mercier, standing at the gate of Lindley farmhouse:

"Now the viewer totally identifies you with living in this house here and leaning on this gate here, looking over the farmyard. It's not your house, but I wonder after ten years do you sometimes think you do live here, and it is your house?"

Sheila: "Yes, very often, I look around - I think 'It's all mine'. Yes, I would like to live here."

Richard: "Would you like to be a farmer's wife?"

Sheila: "In many ways I would, yes. I love the country life and I love animals, and I talk to all the calves when they're little."

Richard: "In the series, you spend all your time in the kitchen, you're always cooking or making cups of tea or washing up. What sort of a life is that?"

Sheila: "Well, I must've made thousands of cups of tea, and goodness knows how many breakfasts, and lunches and suppers. It just seems to go on forever!"

Richard: "And all the family [actors] that sit round the table for these gorgeous meals you make, you regard them all as your family, do you?"

Sheila: "Oh, yes, of course I do. They have become my second family. It's a long time we've been here."

Richard discussed Sam Pearson with Toke Townley:

Richard: "You [Sam] stick up for all the old values in life."

Toke: "That right - that's true, he does."

Richard: "You [Sam] don't particularly like the pace of modern day life?"

Toke: "No. I think particularly he doesn't like the way people go on from his point of view, he was brought up so differently. And he does incline also to dislike the modern machinery up to a point, you know, saying horses always did it better."

Richard interviewed Frederick Pyne (Matt Skilbeck):

Richard: "Now, in the last ten years you've had one or two dramas in your life, you've lost one wife, you've lost your twins, and in fact, in a way, you've lost your second wife, haven't you?" [The role of Dolly Skilbeck was recast in 1980].

Frederick: "Mmm, well I've been very lucky really, I've been married twice but I've had three women!"

Richard: "You're smiling now, but it's quite well known that you don't smile a great deal - you're not a great smiler in the series."

Frederick: "No, well they won't let me, you see, they always make me miserable. I'm supposed to be a dour Dales farmer. I don't think they all go around like that really all the time, but then you don't smile a lot if you lose half your family every other year, do you?"

An extract from Richard Whiteley's interview with Ronald Magill (Amos Brearly):

Richard: "After ten years of playing the landlord of The Woolpack, I suppose you feel like the landlord of The Woolpack, don't you?"

Ronald: "I suppose I do. Funnily enough, I feel a landlord more off-duty than on, because I spend so much of my time with my friends in the Licensed Victuallers' Association and they do accept me as one of them."

Richard: "Would you make a good landlord, do you think, in real life?"

Ronald (smiling): "Oh, I don't think so - it's too much like hard work!"

And so on to the Press Pack...

The cover of the 10th Anniversary Celebration Press Pack showing: Frazer Hines (Joe Sugden since the first episode), Arthur Pentelow (Henry Wilks since the first episode), the Reverend Donald Hinton (Hugh Manning, who debuted in 1977), Frederick Pyne (Matt Skilbeck since episode one), Clive Hornby (Jack Sugden since 1980), Sheila Mercier (Annie Sugden since the first episode), Stan Richards (who debuted as a temporary character called Seth Armstrong in 1978, and became a central character over a period of time, finally becoming a Woolpack regular in 1980), Jane Hutcheson (Sandie Merrick since 1980), Ronald Magill (Amos Brearly since episode one), Toke Townley (Sam Pearson since episode one), Helen Weir (Pat Merrick since 1980), Richard Thorp (Alan Turner since 1982), Jean Rogers (Dolly Skilbeck since 1980) and Ian Sharrock (Jackie Merrick since 1980).

Cheers! Key members of the 1982 Emmerdale Farm cast toast the show's first decade.

Included in the 10th Anniversary Press Pack was a notepad, each page featuring a charming drawing of some of the central Emmerdale Farm characters - Matt, Annie, Henry, Amos, Sam, Joe, Jack, Donald, Dolly and Nell the faithful sheepdog!

From the Press Pack:

Yorkshire Television, together with author Kevin Laffan, created "Emmerdale Farm", the story of the Sugden family and their friends and neighbours in the Yorkshire Dales village of Beckindale.

Says Kevin Laffan: "I was approached by YTV with a simple brief for a three-month serial - 'write 26 episodes about a Yorkshire farm' ".

It was an original and conscious decision to make the series quiet and gentle-paced, reflecting the lifestyle and the seasons of the countryside. There would be emotional stresses and conflicts among the characters but very few watch-next-week, cliff-hanging dramas. The accent was to be firmly on people and their relationships set against the splendid back-drop of some of the most beautiful countryside in England - the Yorkshire Dales...

And an early decision was also taken to record FIFTY per cent of the story on location - unheard of in the history of producing such long-running television series...

Beckindale's "Woolpack", as in any village, is the hub of community life. This is where gossip abounds, listened to with careful interest by landlord and local Hotten Courier correspondent Amos Brearly.

People love a traditional pint and a chinwag - who's doing what, when and why? - but there is little maliciousness in Emmerdale's talk. The folk of Beckindale belong to a now rare community where, though there may be occasional differences, they care about each other.

And they have cared for TEN years.

Making it into the papers - the Sunday Mirror, 10 October, 1982, notes the impending Emmerdale anniversary.

The TV Times honoured the show with a special 10th Anniversary souvenir magazine.

Rare Emmerdale Farm '80s Radio Shows Unearthed!

Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby) reflects on life at Emmerdale Farm in the 1980s.

I've just been transported back to 1983 to spend some time with the late, much-loved Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale actor Clive Hornby. Clive played the legendary Jack Sugden, making his debut on 19 February 1980, and was in the show until shortly before his death in 2008.

During that time, the show was transformed, rocketing out of the (by comparison) sleepy 1980s and into the 1990s and early 21st Century, keeping pace with the other English soaps via a thoroughly modern flavour, geared to the evolving tastes of soap fans across the country.

Through all the drama and comedy, there was Clive Hornby as Jack Sugden, providing a lovely thread of continuity back to the old days - as Elizabeth Estensen said in tribute to the character "Always the farmer".

It was an idea of Carl Gresham AKA "The Gresh", a DJ on Pennine Radio in 1983, to make use of his contacts with the stars of Emmerdale Farm and invite six of them into the studio over a period of about two months - to each present an hour of their favourite music. The Gresh put on his producer's hat for the shows, it being his plan not to interview the stars but simply to let them talk, choose their favourite tunes, and then play the music. Judging by the Clive Hornby hour I have just listened to, it made for marvellous radio.

But it's a long way back to 1983, times and technology have changed dramatically, and The Gresh, faced with the old Ampex ten inch tapes he had kept of the shows (he's a self confessed hoarder!) faced some discouragement from those that thought the tapes would be useless now - they would have degenerated, gone "crumply".

The Gresh persevered, and passed the tapes to his archive producer, Dave Perrett, and, after much work, the interviews were transferred to CD and sound as though they were recorded yesterday!

The Clive Hornby show was originally broadcast on Thursday, 10th November, 1983.

It's a lovely listen, an unexpectedly unearthed piece of Emmerdale history - and makes a tremendous tribute to Clive - who tells us a bit about his youth in the 1960s, the decade from which most of his favourite records originate. There's also a chance to hear the Dennisons - the pop group which featured Clive as drummer - and Clive also relates the story of how he became one of the first people ever to hear a certain classic 1960s hit, comes up with a song which captures the complexities of being seventeen years old, and slips in a request for another Emmerdale Farm cast member.

Throughout the hour, Clive comes across as being a thoroughly down to earth and likeable man who would have made a great companion for an evening's chat in the Woolpack Inn, Beckindale - or anywhere else.

If you'd like to hear Clive's musical choice, the show is available on a CD, available from:

PO Box 3. Bradford. West Yorkshire. BD1 4QN

The cost is £5.00 - including postage - and we think it's an absolute bargain. Please make cheques payable to Carl Gresham. We don't usually go in for advertising or selling things at '80s Actual, but this CD is, in our opinion, absolutely priceless!

Clive (far left) with his fellow cast members - the folks at Emmerdale Farm - summer 1984.

Soap Aid 1986: EastEnders And Emmerdale Farm Stars In A Lather For Charity...

From the Sun, July 28, 1986:

Do you remember all the charity events of the 1980s? You couldn't walk out the door without colliding with a sponsored walk, a sponsored silence, a sponsored bean scoff, a telethon, a walkathon, a talkathon, a bonkathon (you should be so lucky), etc, etc.

This particular event, part of "Soap Aid", appears to have been a bit of a wash-out, but it's good to see Beckindale's Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill), Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards) and Dolly Skilbeck (Jean Rogers) hobnobbing with Walford's Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) and Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully).

EastEnders and Emmerdale Farm - both shows had titles that started with an "E" and both were soap operas, but, in 1986, they had little else in common. The Square squabbles seemed to be a million miles from the Dales tales!

EastEnders 25th Anniversary - Post 1

EastEnders first burst on to our screens on 19 February 1985. And that's almost twenty-five years ago.

February 2010 sees the BBC soap celebrate its 25th anniversary, and '80s Actual will be adding to its current Albert Square posts with a short series looking back at some of the behind-the scenes-folk, characters and story-lines from the soap's birth decade, the 1980s.

The photo above shows Pete Beale (Peter Dean), his son (well, at least Pete thought it was), Simon Wicks (Nick Berry) and the fearsome Pat Wicks (Pam St Clement) enjoying a happy evening in the Queen Vic.

Pam St Clement had cut her soap teeth in that other ITV saga Emmerdale Farm. She briefly played a Mrs Eckersley. Debuting in episode 561 on 10 March 1980, she appeared in the Yorkshire farming saga for five episodes, bowing out in episode 565 on 25 March 1980.

Pam's character actually deputised for Emmerdale matriarch Annie Sugden, looking after the cooking and the kitchen at the farm whilst Annie took a holiday in Ireland.

Mrs Eckersley sang hymns as she trundled around Beckindale on her trusty old bike and was a thoroughly nice woman.

Pam St Clement made her debut as Pat Wicks in EastEnders in episode 138, broadcast on 12 June 1986.

Of course, Pat didn't sing hymns. And whilst many Walford locals regarded her as an old bike, she didn't ride one and nobody in those early days would have described her as trusty. Or as a thoroughly nice woman, come to that.

Not even after ten pints of Churchill's strong ale.

But times and soap characters change, and Pat is now an EastEnders favourite.

Click on our EastEnders label below for lots more '80s Albert Square stuff and look out for further 25th anniversary posts.

Emmerdale Farm - Amos Does Himself A Mischief, Crossroads - David And Barbara Get Married, Coronation Street - Hilda And Eddie Sing Carols...

Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) gives husband Len (Peter Adamson) a right lambasting before walking out on him in 1980.

What were UK soap operas like in the early '80s?

Well, we had Crossroads, Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm. The farming saga (as it was then) would not be networked - shown on the same day and at the same time - until January 1988. We also had a couple of new soaps - Take The High Road took us to Scotland - to the village of Glendarroch; Together was set in a block of flats in the south of England. In 1981, we gained English-speaking Welsh soap Taff Acre.

Both Taff Acre and Together were short-lived.

Those were the days before the shock of the new in the soap world - the arrivals of Brookside (1982) and EastEnders (1985). Life in soap land was a lot slower than it is today...

What were the early months of 1980 like in Beckindale, the original name of the village now called Emmerdale? Well, the start of a new decade should have brought smiles to a few of the characters.

Let's time-warp back and pop up to Home Farm to see Judy Westrop (Jane Cussons). Good old Judy's having a fag and saying: "I'm angry - and I'm enjoying it!"

Oh dear...

And Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) is at the hospital where there's bad news from the doctor: "I'm sorry, Mr Skilbeck, there's no choice. Your wife's condition is critical. We must operate now."

Oh no! But surely there's better news at The Woolpack? After all, Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) is sure to want to start the new decade on a positive note...

Oh 'eck! Steady on, Amos - you'll do yourself a mischief!

"ARRRGGHHH!!!"

Too late!

Oh, well... much better news - Clive Hornby made his first appearance as Jack Sugden on 19 February 1980 - and Joe (Frazer Hines) greeted him: "Welcome back to Emmerdale, big brother!"

And a bit later there was a new woman at Annie's Aga - just temporary of course... but, hang on, doesn't she look familiar? Good grief, it's Pam St Clement, later Pat of EastEnders, getting an early taste of soap life as Mrs Eckersley in March 1980.

And Grandad Sam Pearson (Toke Townley) caught a big smelly fish whilst on holiday in Ireland: "I'm goin' to 'ave it stuffed, and it's goin' in a glass case over't mantelpiece," said Grandad.

Yeuk!

Funny old year. Funny old start to a new decade...

However, villagers and viewers alike were delighted to meet the new Dolly Skilbeck, now played by Jean Rogers. The new Dolly made her screen debut on 1 April, 1980.

Thanks to our sister blog, the Beckindale Bugle, for our Emmerdale Farm pics and insights.

It was decreed in 1979 that the weekly number of Crossroads episodes broadcast should be cut from four to three in 1980. The IBA was unhappy with the standards of the show.

In the story-line, 1980 got off to a cracking start nonetheless with Rosemary Hunter (Janet Hargreaves) shooting her ex-husband, David (Ronald Allen) in the motel office. David survived and went on to marry his new love, novelist Barbara Brady (Sue Lloyd).

Sue Lloyd had made her debut in the show the year before and revealed in her 1998 autobiography that she had had doubts about going into Crossroads:

The first time I was offered a role in Crossroads, I must admit my initial reaction was to be a bit sniffy about it. The soap was renowned for its wobbly scenery, bizarre sory lines and regular slaughtering by the critics. Why would I, just back from filming The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers in the South of France, and about to embark on the comedy The Upchat Line with John Alderton, want to get involved in a project like that? Besides, I was too busy.

'If they want you,' advised my agent, 'they'll come back.'

He was right. About a year later they called again. They were looking for an actress to play a slightly mysterious, classy lady named Barbara Brady. She was to arrive at the Crossroads Motel, apparently to take a post as a sort of upmarket housekeeper, but in reality she was an author researching material for a new book.

David and Barbara were two of the show's most popular characters until they were axed in 1985.

The Ogdens had been Corrie favourites since the mid-1960s. In December 1981, Daily Mirror TV critic Hilary Kingsley issued a plea to the Street's writers to stop Hilda (Jean Alexander) singing!

Her carol duet with Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes) had not been appreciated.

Originally a petty crook and lovable layabout, Eddie got a job as a binman in 1980 and moved in with the Ogdens at No 13.

The early '80s were the final on-screen era for a number of the Street's original characters - Annie Walker (Doris Speed), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson), Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth) and Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) all made their final appearances in the first half of the decade.

By mid-1984, Ken Barlow (William Roache) was the only remaining member of the cast who had appeared in the first episode, broadcast on 9 December 1960.

1980: Pam St Clement, Pat Of EastEnders, Cuts Her Soap Teeth In Emmerdale Farm...

Pam St Clement, the wonderful Pat Wicks/Butcher/Evans in EastEnders since 1986, once played a Mrs Eckersley in Emmerdale Farm. Making her debut in episode 561 on 10 March 1980, she appeared in the Yorkshire farming saga for five episodes, bowing out in episode 565 on 25 March 1980.

Mrs Eckersley was a Beckindale local, and was called into help at Emmerdale Farm when Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier) and her father, Sam Pearson (Toke Townley), went on a competition-won holiday to Ireland.

She was a capable woman, well able to step into Annie's shoes at the Aga.

Mrs Eckersley's family consisted of her husband, Harold (Roger Hammond), and teenage daughter, Esmarelda (Debbie Farrington). Esmarelda had written a book and was distressed when her manuscript was rejected by the publishers she'd sent it to.

The newly returned (and recast) Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby), himself a published author, helped Esmarelda through her disappointment.

Locals though they were supposed to be, once this story-line was complete, the Eckersleys were never seen or heard of in the show again.

1986: TV Snacks And Soap Opera Stars...

Here's a nice piece of 1980s kitsch - it's 1986 and from your friendly local newsagent you could buy a copy of this handy little booklet - 90 TV Snacks - Ideas, Recipes And Soap Stars' Favourites.

On the cover was the adorable Angie Watts - Anita Dobson - of EastEnders, with big hair, big shoulder pads, and sparkling pearlies.

EastEnders had first burst on to our screens in February 1985, with Lou Beale (Anna Wing) "doin' her nut" over daughter Pauline (Wendy Richard) and her late-in-life pregnancy, a grim discovery at Reg Cox's place, and a fist through the window at the local boozer, The Queen Vic. English soaps would never be the same again...

The 1980s were an interesting time for snacking: microwave ovens had debuted in the 1960s but were not affordable to the vast majority of people until the 1980s, and the possibilities they opened up (if you weren't terrified by tales of radiation poisoning) were endless. And then there were those natty sandwich toasters. YUM!

So, what did Angie - or Anita - favour in the TV snack line?

"A bag of cheese and onion crisps".

Nice 'n' easy.

And hubby "dirty" Den Watts (Leslie Grantham)? "Mexican Tacos for me, and a glass of good wine."

Classy!

Coronation Street had debuted on ITV in December 1960, and was going great guns in the 1980s. What TV snacks did two of the regulars from The Rovers favour in 1986? Well, Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) was into a cheese or mushroom omelette, whilst Ken Barlow (William Roache) liked "A good salad sandwich - lettuce, cucumber and tomato in granary bread."

Scrummy.

As a quick aside, I always thought that mid-'80s Kev had modelled himself on the dark haired bloke from Hall & Oates (see inset pic).

Brookside was the first of the new breed of 1980s subversive soaps, and blasted on to our TV screens in November 1982, on Channel 4's opening night. Asked for her favourite TV snack in 1986, Sandra Maghie (Sheila Grier) went for French bread with cheese or paté and salad, Damon Grant (Simon O'Brien) favoured tuna in oil spread on brown toast, Bobby Grant (Ricky Tomlinson) said "Give me a chip buttie every time", and Sheila Grant (Sue Johnston) opted for home made chicken soup.

Typically original, Brookside sent the character of Damon Grant off into a spin-off (or "soap bubble") in 1987 called Damon and Debbie, which ended with the death of the character.

Crossroads was on our screens from November 1964 to April 1988 - an often mocked but now fondly remembered soap based around life in a Midlands motel. In the mid-to-late 1980s, shortly before its end, the show was revamped but, despite rising ratings, still got the chop.

Jane Rossington as Jill Richardson/Harvey/Chance - or "Jilly" as her hubby Adam (Tony Adams) once called her - starred in the show, with a few breaks, from beginning to end.

Her favourite 1986 TV snack was cheese with slices of apple.

Benny Hawkins (Paul Henry) liked egg and bacon sandwiches.

Me too.

And finally, Dolly Skilbeck (Jean Rogers) of Emmerdale Farm gave us her recipe for tuna and sweetcorn bake. Jean Rogers made her screen debut as Dolly, taking over the role from Katharine Barker, on 1 April 1980.

Emmerdale Farm began as a lunchtime serial in October 1972. The show underwent several momentous changes in the 1980s, dropping its seasonal breaks and being shown nearly all year round from 1985 onwards (it was not shown during the Christmas season until 1988) and being networked - shown on the same day and at the same time across the country - in January 1988.

In November 1989, the show dropped "Farm" from its title, becoming simply Emmerdale.

Emmerdale Farm - The 1980s: The Golden Era Of Amos And Mr Wilks

1980s signed cast cards of Arthur Pentelow (Henry Wilks) and Ronald Magill (Amos Brearly). Here's a fascinating fact: did you know that until the early 1980s UK soap cast cards provided by TV studios were always in black and white?

Ah, those were the days... Arthur Pentelow as Henry Wilks (or should that be Mr Wilks?!) and Ronald Magill as Amos Brearly. These two ran The Woolpack Inn and shared the living accommodation from 1973 to 1991. A now legendary soap pairing.

Actually there were a pair of Woolpacks, too. The original building was declared unsafe due to subsidence in 1976, so Amos and Mr Wilks relocated to premises elsewhere in the village.

Mr Wilks was a warm hearted retired businessman. Amos was... well... erm... it's not easy to summarise Amos. He was childish. Pompous. Usually rigidly formal. Given to rapid fads and enthusiasms. He was also naive and very good hearted. Underneath it all.

The character of Amos evolved. When he became Beckindale correspondent on the Hotten Courier in 1976, he puffed himself up like a peacock. But it took until the early 1980s before the character was refined and honed to perfection. Watch any 1970s episode of Emmerdale Farm, and I think you might agree that Amos was quieter, more restrained and dour than in the 1980s - when he was gloriously potty, pursuing fad after fad in quick succession, bridling at Mr Wilks' attempts to bring him down to earth and generally being a wonderful nuisance.

1980 was an absolutely pivotal year for the Amos character - with Seth Armstrong leaving The Malt Shovel bar to become a regular at The Woolpack, and Al Dixon joining the cast as Walter, Amos became more animated, fad-ridden and bizarre than ever before!

The '80s were a truly splendid era during which Amos and Mr Wilks story lines abounded, as the show became an all-year-round soap.

Do you remember the time when Amos got into transcendental meditation? The time he went "upwardly mobile" and took up golf with Alan Turner? The time he turned to bee keeping? The time he baked a cake? The time he was cursed by a gypsy? The time...

If all these sound like Amos-only story lines, rest assured that Mr Wilks was always there, advising, trying to moderate his friend's behaviour, and generally suffering!

Fortunately, Mr Wilks had friends elsewhere or he would, no doubt, have gone insane!

Amos and Mr Wilks have a disagreement in 1980...

... and they're still at in 1989. Dolly Skilbeck (Jean Rogers) looks on.

A pain in the neck to Amos was one of his best 1980s customers and arch enemy, Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards). How he loved to wind the big key in Amos' back! In 1980, Amos commented disapprovingly on Seth's loyalty to the Malt Shovel. Seth was just becoming established as a regular character back then, having first appeared in a few episodes in 1978. From 1980 onwards, Seth switched to The Woolpack, and absolutely loved to get under Amos' skin! Remember the time he booked two strippers (and a python!) to perform at The Woolpack - much to Amos' horror? Amos ordered them out and the pub was wrecked by irate customers!

I've recently viewed hundreds of 1980s Emmerdale Farm episodes, and watching Amos reach the peak of his peculiarity, aided by Seth Armstrong and Walter and the long-suffering Mr Wilks, has been a great pleasure.

Seth holding court at The Woolpack in 1983. Walter (Al Dixon) says nowt and concentrates on his ale. Al Dixon first appeared as the silent bar propper in September 1980.

Seth and pal.

"Sunday People", June 9, 1985. Apparently Jenny the donkey's braying could sometimes be heard when the "Emmerdale Farm" crew were attempting to film in Esholt - so it was decided to bring her into the story!

Joint Pipe Smokers Of The Year, 1986.