Lorraine Kelly has taken us behind the scenes of Emmerdale as the show reaches the amazing milestone of half a century.
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In her HELLO! column, the TV presenter joked she got a new job when she headed to the TV studios for a look around Emmerdale's set. Read how Lorraine got on in her diary...
Emmerdale is celebrating a big birthday this month, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit the studios where the soap is filmed and have a look behind the scenes. The show was launched back in October 1972 when Ted Heath was Prime Minister and David Cassidy was a teen heartthrob.
At first it was called Emmerdale Farm and only on in the afternoons. It was a very gentle drama with lots of sheep and Annie Sugden doing the washing up.
That all changed when Emmerdale dropped the “Farm” from it’s title and became a hugely successful five times a week soap aired in the evenings.
WATCH: Lorraine Kelly's video diary for HELLO!
I went to the ITV studios in Leeds were all the interior scenes are filmed, which was like stepping right into my TV set. We broadcast the whole of my show live from Emmerdale with some of the top stars including Chris Bisson who plays Jai Sharma.
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Young Daisy Campbell who is pregnant teen Amelia, Dean Edwards who as Will is being brave enough to marry Kim Tate and Nicola Wheeler who plays Nicola King.
I was quite glad not to be outside in the actual village as it’s FREEZING this time of year and the cast have to bundled up between scenes in thick coats clutching hot water bottles.
Lorraine enjoying being behind the scenes
I had a chance to pull a pint in the famous Woolpack which is a proper working pub with beer on tap and spirits in the optics. I also discovered a staircase that is actually just an optical illusion.
Watch my video and you will see what I mean. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and it was fascinating to see how it all works. Apart from “The Woolpack” all the other sets were bedecked in Christmas decorations as scenes are filmed so far in advance. It was very odd to see Christmas trees and tinsel in October.
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There’s lots of celebrations to mark Emmerdale’s half century with a documentary, special episodes and of course the cast and crew will have a fabulous party. It was a really fun morning and an insight into all the work that goes into making one of our favourite shows.
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