England's first rurally based soap opera, emmerdale farm quickly became one of the nation's best loved programmes. Moving from its original mid week afternoon slot to the heart of peak time scheduling and becoming one of the longest running dramas on british television, the series continues to scoop multiple awards and nominations. This set revisits beckindale's early days, with 32 consecutive episodes originally screened in 1973. Storylines include joe and carol's romance the recently bereaved matt skilbeck's ongoing struggle to bring up the twins the arrival of george verney's young nephew, mark, and subsequent conflict with mark's father the combined efforts of jack, the rev. Ruskin and dr scott to help recalcitrant widower charlie nelson and local victory in the annual beckindale vs. Robblesfield cricket match. Running time 800 minutes region region 2 release date 6 aug. 2012