Pastures new: Behind the scenes at Emmerdale's new home

WALKING around the cavernous empty rooms of ITV's Yorkshire studios, it's perhaps hard to imagine they were once the heartbeat of British television.

The list of much-loved programmes that have rolled off its

distinguished production line over the years includes Rising Damp, Heartbeat, A Touch of Frost and Countdown.

But when ITV revealed record losses in March last year and announced that Countdown was moving across the Pennines after almost 30 years in Leeds, the future looked far from rosy for the landmark Kirkstall Road site. The sense of gloom was compounded when bosses effectively mothballed the studios and production of Emmerdale – the jewel in ITV Yorkshire's crown – was switched to nearby studios on Burley Road.

But then last December, following a detailed review of the Kirkstall Road facilities, ITV announced a 5m upgrade of the studios. As well as investing in the infrastructure of programme-making in the city, it also safeguarded the future of Emmerdale which bosses said would move back to the new purpose-built studio complex.

At the time, ITV executives said it was a "commitment to the region and Emmerdale" and would enhance the production of the hugely popular TV soap which regularly attracts over seven million viewers and is now

shown in more than 100

countries.

Work on the new Kirkstall Road studios started five weeks ago and the multi-million pound revamp is expected to be completed by next spring. Outside scenes will continue to be filmed at the purpose-built village near Leeds, but from next summer all the internal scenes, including those in the famous Woolpack pub, will be recorded in the new studios.

Adrian Bleasdale is the project manager overseeing construction of the new production centre which is being specifically built for Emmerdale. "When the show started, there was three episodes a week, but now there are six a week and it's become a great success story which is why we're investing 5m in the future of the programme," he says. "It's about creating the best possible environment to produce Emmerdale and we have worked incredibly closely with the production team in the whole process so that what we are creating here meets their needs."

The new digital studios mean Emmerdale's legion of fans will be able to watch the soap in high definition for the first time, helping capture the stunning Yorkshire landscape in all its colourful glory. They also include six sound stages, two production galleries along with various storage facilities and workshops.

Mr Bleasdale says the revamp will radically alter the layout of the Kirkstall Road studios. There will be five ground-floor studios, incorporating two existing ones along with the creation of three more converted from existing floor space. Each custom-built studio will house different sets – so the Woolpack will be in studio 3 and studio 4 will be used as Homefarm.

There will also be a sixth studio on the first floor designed for hospital and prison scenes in the long-running series. The top floor will consist of offices housing the scriptwriters, production and design teams as well as a post-production area and conference rooms for the writers to storyboard their ideas.

Eagle-eyed viewers may want to try and spot any discrepancies when filming begins on the new sets, but Mr Bleasdale is confident they wont notice any. "Some of the sets will get moved, but we are duplicating as much as possible," he says.

At the moment, the Kirkstall Road studios are something of a building site crawling with workmen, rather than actors and film crews. But Mr Bleasdale says once finished the new production centre will be much more efficient, allowing filming to take on different sets simultaneously, something that can't be done at the Burley Road site because of the layout.

"It's a really significant investment and it is the biggest change this building has ever seen," he says.

It will also hopefully mark a new chapter in the continuing story of quality television production in Yorkshire.