Emmerdale Farm Vol: 5 Finally Drops

 
Art & Culture

In the immortal words of Ice Cube, "today was a good day." Amongst the relentless promo noise from dance labels keen to share their latest genius with us (just for the record, here's today's most baffling PR line: "this EP invites us to enjoy the passing time: a sparkling rhythm, a captivating and hypnotic synths tablecloth meet at different times of the day."), a moment of art has crept through. Finally, Emmerdale Farm Volume 5 is available to buy on DVD.

This 4 disc set, honestly presented in packaging that dispenses with the frippery of extras and gets straight down to the nitty gritty of sheep based drama, rounds up the 'Farm's golden era, with 800 minutes of nail biting action taken from the peerless, mid-70s creative peak that was episodes 117 – 148. For the bargain price of £39.99 you can revisit characters who have came to represent all of England; their hopes, loves, dreams, and fallacies an intricately crafted allegory of the struggles facing the humble British man as he teetered on the brink of world collapsing into neo-liberal chaos. 

"Joe Sugden finds he's not the only one interested in the old mill, George Verney comes to a decision about his marriage, Janie Blakey is astonished when her sister Ruth returns to Beckindale with neither her husband nor her children, and Emmerdale Farm's mystery camper reveals his identity…

The blurb says it all. Devastating, brave and humbling. We'd not seen its like in rural-based soap opera before and I doubt we will again. Magnificent.