I am 'hot on' this - Emmerdale

Advantages: Easy viewing

Disadvantages: Not for everyone

I used to hate this programme. 

I would be sitting watching something really interesting and totally relevant to teenagers, then my Granny would saunter into the room and without a word of "are you watching this" would just walk over to the television and press the third big clunky button down from the top - this is in the days before remote controls and when it was called Emmerdale Farm - so much for learning manners from your elders ehh? 

Anyway fast forward "mumble mumble" years to the present day, and where can you find me most week nights at 7 p.m. You guessed it! I am sat in front of ITV1 

Now if you knew me you would know that I am not a 'soap' type of person, but for one reason or another I found myself in fromt of the telly one night and Emmerdale was on - I tend to leave the telly on when I am reading, how I manage to concentrate on the book I'll never know. Anyway I found myself looking up from the book everynow and again... anyhow within the week I knew all the ins and outs of the Sugdens. Old Betty, Val, Pollard et al. 

Now I am not going to kid you and pretend that this is different from any other soap, it does the same as the others and allows us to see the lifes (albeit fictional) of the people who live in a Yorkshire village. 

OK, you all know the format, a variety of different types of people and the sometimes, if perhaps not over the top occurences in their lives, and the relationships they have with others. And so it is with Emmerdale. 

What makes it a little more enjoyable for me is that I have never lived in the country side, so Emmerdale, if it reflects real life, is an education for me. I am fascinated by the existence of a modern day feudal system that it would seem still goes on. 

There will be someone in the big house, a tenant farmer, the village pub, the village stores and post office (just!), the church. There is a village idiot, a smattering of entrpreneurs, incomers, plenty of bad boys, and to use the modern parlance there is even a village bike - forgive me if you need an explanation here, google is your friend! 

There is an intricate tapestry which must be kept from fraying here and it is called a pecking order. This is at once apparent, but invisible. I dread to think that if I ever moved to the country I would have to fit into this pecking order in order to get on, or at least get through life. 

So this is what fascinates me about Emmerdale. There is a little splash of sociology. Give it a go!

Summary: Well made soap