Emmerdale (known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989) is a British television soap opera set in the fictional Yorkshire village of the same name (known as Beckindale until 1994). Much of the action takes place within the fictional village pub, The Woolpack. The show was created by Kevin Laffan. It is the third-highest ranking soap opera on British television, behind the ITV's Coronation Street and the BBC's EastEnders.

The series is produced by Yorkshire Television (YTV) and broadcast on the ITV network, and was first aired on October 16, 1972. It was originally conceived and broadcast as a daytime programme in an afternoon slot, moving to its current position as an early evening programme in the 1980s.

The village itself was originally played by the real village of Arncliffe in Littondale, one of the less frequented valleys of the Yorkshire Dales. In exterior shots, the town's hotel, The Falcon, was used to represent the fictional Woolpack Hotel. Eventually the location of the shooting location became publicly known, which is perhaps what prompted the move to the village of Esholt. This location also became a tourist attaction. Now a purpose built set in Harewood is used. Location footage of the fictional market town of Hotten is shot in Otley. The Benton Park School in Rawdon and the primary school in Farnley are also used as shooting locations. Indoor scenes are mostly filmed in the Emmerdale production centre in Leeds (located next to the main YTV building). Follow this link [1] and if you have Google Earth click on "Open This Placemark" to go to a high resolution satellite image of the YTV set on the Harewood estate.

Emmerdale is shown from Sunday-Friday at 7pm on ITV1.

Catch-ups and the ominibus of the show can be seen on ITV2.