Emmerdale is best known for its iconic characters – those familiar faces that grace our screens five times a week – but what about the production team, the people on the other side of the camera?
It takes a village (if you’ll pardon the pun) to deliver award-winning drama to an audience of millions. And while the Emmerdale cast front the soap, behind the scenes is a crew who are integral to its success.
Amongst them are talented writers, producers and directors.
These creative visionaries are the ones responsible for conjuring up groundbreaking storylines, deciding the words that come out of character’s mouths and controlling the look and feel of each episode from pre-production to the final edit.
Here’s a closer look at the talented writers, producers and directors who deliver five episodes of tantalising drama to the audience each week.
Emmerdale production team: Writers
Liam Johnson
Liam Johnson is a writer on Emmerdale. He joined the soap as a Researcher, and worked in the roles of trainee Storyliner and Script Editor before joining the writing team in March 2020. To date, he has penned over 40 episodes of Emmerdale, including Ashley Thomas’s award-winning dementia battle, Marlon Dingle’s stroke and Paddy Kirk‘s suicide attempt. Outside of television, Liam has written jokes for the radio comedy panel show, Breaking the News. He’s also the main contributor to the Judge Dredd All-Ages spin-off, Cadet Dredd.
Jo Summerscales
Jo Summerscales has been a writer on Emmerdale since 2014. She cut her teeth as the show’s Story Editor and to date has written over 80 episodes. In 2022, Jo wrote a short film titled Treasure.
Isobel Cameron
Isobel Cameron is a member of Emmerdale’s writing team. She has been creating drama for the soap since 2006, and in that time has written over 125 episodes.
Tony Hammond
Tony Hammond joined Emmerdale’s writing department in 2023. Educated at the Cumbria Institute of Arts, he graduated in 1993 with a BA in Communication and Media Studies. Tony started his career at ITV in October 1996. He has had a wide variety of roles including Script Editor, Storyliner, Assistant Producer, Script Producer and Story Producer. Tony also produced the Emmerdale spin-offs, Paddy and Marlon’s Big Night In, and The Dingles: For Richer, For Poorer. During his two decades at ITV he has also worked for Coronation Street.
Karin Young
Karin Young is one of Emmerdale’s longest-serving writers and joined the show in 1997. Born in 1960 in Tyneside, Karin’s scripts have won the show a number of awards, including a BAFTA in 2001 and British Soap Award in 2008. Before joining Emmerdale, she wrote and directed the comedy drama Little Richard Wrecked My Marriage and children’s drama The Ward. Karin is an accomplished playwright. Her plays include Buffalo Girls, Here I Come, Hatched, Matched and Dispatched, Divvy Day for Doreen, Swinging Sisters and The Awkward Squad – which also starred former Emmerdale actor Charlie Hardwick.
Linton Chiswick
Linton Chiswick is a member of Emmerdale’s writing team and has been since 2010. To date, he’s written over 180 episodes of the soap and more than ninety hours of broadcast television. Linton started his career as an arts journalist and wrote for titles including The Times, FT, Guardian and Independent. He has written and presented programmes about jazz and contemporary music for BBC Radio 3. Linton’s other television credits include the hit comedy Teachers, BBC drama series Waterloo Road and Endemol’s teen drama Paradise Café. Linton penned his first film script in 1999. He’s currently developing a short film titled The Magnificent Magnifico.
Zeli Zulu
Zelipa (Zeli) Zulu is a writer on Emmerdale. Between 2008 and 2009 she worked as storyliner on the award-winning show, Generations. Her other writing credits include the South African musical drama series Rhythm City, Mnet’s The Wild, Mzansi Magic’s The Road, Isibaya, Isithembiso and Lockdown. Zeli’s Netflix debut was the four part series Blood Sisters, which was released in 2022.
Kirsty Halton
Kirsty Halton has been part of Emmerdale’s writing team since 2009 and has been credited for over 150 episodes. Born on July 20 1975, Kirsty worked as a forensic scientist and science teacher before embarking on a writing career. She has also written for other series, including The Worst Witch and has contributed to scripts for ITV hit gameshow, The Chase.
Tony Higgins
Tony Higgins joined Emmerdale as a writer in 2019. The Birmingham-born creative is now part of the soap’s core writing team. Tony has previously written for BBC medical drama Holby City, as well as for sister-show, Casualty. He also has worked as a contributor for the Channel 5 police drama, Suspects. His series-drama pilot Karma earned him a place on the shortlist for the Red Planet Prize.
Martin Fustes
Martin Fustes has been a writer on Emmerdale for the past decade. He joined the soap in 2006 as a storyliner before becoming part of the writing team in 2006. He’s written over 140 episodes.
Anna Clements
Anna Clements has been on Emmerdale writing team since 2019. Prior to that, London-born Anna worked as a writer for Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. She penned episodes of the show and its 2001 spin-off Hollyoaks: Movin’ On.
Julie Parsons
Julie Parsons has been part of Emmerdale’s writing team since November 2005, with over 220 episodes under her belt. She has a BA degree in TV and Radio Production from University College Salford and began her career as a script editor for Channel 5. She joined ITV as a storyliner and worked on their popular prison drama, Bad Girls. Julie has had stints as a script editor for Sky and Screenwriter for the BBC and Audible, Inc.
Jo Maris
Jo Maris is an Emmerdale screenwriter. The Bradford-based writer studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and began her career as a reporter for the Burnley Express Newspapers. Jo joined ITV in 2006 as an Emmerdale storyliner, before she was promoted to senior storyliner in 2008. Jo became one of the writing team 2017 and her name has been on more than 70 episodes.
Samantha De Vaux
Samantha Doland De Vaux (known as Samantha De Vaux) has been part of the Emmerdale writing team since 2006. She has written and produced on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks as well as the penultimate series of BBC school drama Grange Hill. Samantha has now penned over 200 episodes of Emmerdale. She has also taken on many non-writing jobs, and draws inspiration from coming across different characters in life.
Andrew Kirk
Andrew Kirk is a writer on Emmerdale, a position which he’s held since 2002. He has written over 200 episodes, including many hour-long specials. One of his biggest recent episodes saw the discovery of Craig’s dead body and the beginnings of a flashback week to all the Dingle alibis. Andrew writes for TV and film and won the first BBC Northern Exposure for his screenplay Without You, which starred Stephen Graham and Nicola Stephenson. He has also written and contributed to River City, Holby City and The Chase.
Jane Pearson
Jane Pearson is one of the writers on Emmerdale. Between 2002 and 2006 she worked as a storyliner for ITV rival soap Coronation Street. Jane has also written episodes of Holby City. She joined the Emmerdale writing team in 2009 and has penned over 190 episodes.
Joanna Ebuwa
Joanna Ebuwa is one of Emmerdale’s newest writers and joined the team in 2022. She is a multi-talented scriptwriter, producer and director and has a degree in English and a Screenwriting MA. She has written more than 15 episodes of Emmerdale.
Bill Taylor
Bill Taylor has been part of the Emmerdale writing team for almost quarter of a century and has written over 350 episodes. Bill has worked as a writer for children’s drama Children’s Ward, and the popular 90s series Peak Practice.
Sue Mooney
Sue Mooney is an experienced TV writer and part of the team at Emmerdale. She started out in the Mersey Television script department working for Channel 4 soap Brookside. This was followed by a years’ sabbatical assisting producer Phil Redmond at Emmerdale. Sue joined the Brookside writing team in the late 90s and went on to pen episodes for Coronation Street, Family Affairs, The Bill, Hollyoaks and Holby City. Her name has been credited on over 115 installments of Emmerdale.
Lesley Clare O’Neill
Lesley Clare O’Neill is an Emmerdale screenwriter. Born in 1952, Lesley worked as an actress before becoming a writer. Her roles include TV series’ Accident, Rockliffe’s Babies, Waterfront Beat, Turning World and Heartbeat. Lesley also played two different characters in Coronation Street in 1984 and 1993. She joined the Emmerdale team in 1998 and has written over 290 episodes in the 26 years since. Lesley also penned the 2003 BBC Afternoon Play Heroes and Villains, which starred Tracie Bennett.
Sarah Bagshaw
Sarah Bagshaw has been a member of the Emmerdale writing team since 1995 and to date has written 339 episodes for the soap. She has a BA degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Leeds. Sarah has also contributed to scripts for The Royal, The Royal Today and Heartbeat.
Peter Kerry
Peter Kerry joined Emmerdale as a script writer in October 2000 and has more than 290 episodes to his name. He co-created the children’s comedy series Big Meg, Little Meg for CITV in 1999. He’s also written scripts for BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers.
Paul Roundell
Paul Roundell has been a writer at Emmerdale for 21 years. He has penned 301 episodes to date, including the soap’s only ever live episode and two feature-length spin-offs. He began his career writing for video games magazines and moved into websites, before joining Emmerdale in 2003. Paul is one of the show’s most commissioned writers and his work has won numerous awards.
Chris Gill
Chris Gill has penned almost 100 episodes of Emmerdale. He joined the team in 2016, bringing a wealth of experience, having written more than 125 episodes of Hollyoaks over an eight year period. These included six episodes of spin-off series, Hollyoaks Later. Chris also has written for Channel 5’s Family Affairs and the prime-time Liverpool based drama The Window.
Adam Sales
Adam Sales started out at Emmerdale as a script editor and assistant director. He worked on spin-off The Dingles: For Richer, For Poorer and the ITV show Through the Keyhole. Adam became a member of the soap’s writing team in 2018 and has written over 50 episodes.
Dawn Harrison
Dawn Harrison is part of the Emmerdale core writing team. She has written of numerous series of the multi-award winning The Dumping Ground, and created three acclaimed five-parters of Doctors, one of which won Best Single Episode at the British Soap Awards. Dawn’s other credits include Holby City, The Royal and Tracy Beaker Returns. She is the Artistic Director of Phosphoros Theatre, a Theatre company that works to bring refugee narratives to the main stage. Dawn started writing for Emmerdale in 2011 and has over 175 episodes to her name.
Sarah Hooper
Sarah Hooper has written over 50 episodes of Emmerdale since 2018. She has previously contributed to scripts for shows such as Shameless, EastEnders, Mount Pleasant and Crackers
Emmerdale production team: Who are the storyliners?
Eva Lake
Eva Lake is Emmerdale’s senior storyliner. She joined the soap in 2006, working as a researcher and archivist. Eva became part of the storylining team in 2011.
George Baker
George Baker works as a storyliner for Emmerdale. He graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2015 with a BA in History, and achieved a Distinction in Master of Arts Screenwriting at Manchester University. The syllabus included screenwriting, script reading, storylining and story structure theory. George joined the team at Emmerdale in 2021 as a researcher and joined the soap’’s storylining team in November 2022.
Jack Deslandes
Jack Deslandes is a writer and filmmaker and currently one of Emmerdale’s storyliners. Hailing from Manchester, he achieved a First Class Honours Degree in Drama, Theatre, Film and Television from the University of Bristol in 2016. Whilst studying in Bristol, Jack worked as Station Manager for University of Bristol Television, was shortlisted for the Guardian Student Media Awards and won the Best Broadcaster, Best Music and Highly Commended Factual at the 2016 National Student Television Awards. Prior to Emmerdale, Jack worked as a researcher for Coronation Street, and had stints at Lime Pictures, BBC Films, Objective Fiction, Zinc Media, Blakeway. Jack’s debut short film, The First Time Ever I Saw His Face, premiered at the London Queer Fringe Film and Arts Festival and placed Runner-Up in the My First Job in Film 90 Second Film Challenge. As of February 2024, Jack is assistant scripts editor at EastEnders.
Chloe McLaughlin
Chloe McLaughlin has been a storyliner at Emmerdale since March 2022. She has a First Class Honours BA Degree in Performance: Drama and Theatre from the University of Salford and a Masters in Broadcast Journalism. Chloe started her career as a freelance actress before gaining experience at as reporter for Quay News. She has worked as journalist for various print magazines, online publications, PR companies, writing content, managing social media and marketing campaigns. Her work has been produced in Manchester theatres such as The Lowry, 53Two and Hope Mill Theatre. She joined Emmerdale in 2019 and worked in their props department for two and a half years before moving into the storylining team.
Jake Robinson
Jake Robinson is one of the Storyliners on Emmerdale.
Victoria Bradley-Smith
Victoria Bradley-Smith is a story editor on Emmerdale. She has a BA degree in Media Technology and Audio Visual Media from the University of Central Lancashire. Victoria started her career as a Post Producer at ITV, working on shows including Countrywise Series 5, The Miner’s Strike and Me, The Waltons at 30, Greatest Elvis Moments and Northumberland Series 2. In 2016, she joined Coronation Street as a Researcher, a role which she held for five years. In August 2021, Victoria joined Lime Pictures, working as a junior storyliner then storyliner for Hollyoaks. She has been Emmerdale’s story editor since May 2023.
Cormac Cahill
Cormac Cahill has been a storyliner on Emmerdale since March 2019 and to date has over 200 episodes to his credit. He was raised in Ireland, and attended University College Cork where he graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Government. Cormac’s career on the Emmerdale production team began in 2015 as a third assistant director. Since then he’s worked as a storyliner, senior storyliner and currently holds the position of story editor.
Emmerdale production team: The producers
Iain McLeod
Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod was the series producer of Emmerdale between 2015 and 2018. He also worked as Hollyoaks series producer and as a story editor on Coronation Street between 2009 and 2013. Since January 2024, Iain has been Executive Producer for Continuing Drama – in charge of both Corrie and Emmerdale.
Sophie Roper
Kate Brooks announced her departure as producer in 2024 and was replaced by Sophie Roper. Sophie had been a story producer for Emmerdale since July 2016. She graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a BA in English Literature and Media and went to work at Coronation Street as a trainee location manager. After two years she transitioned into the storylining department. Since joining Emmerdale in 2016 some of her biggest contributions have been to Pierce’s coercive control over Rhona and Faith Dingle’s cancer storyline.
Laura Shaw
Laura Shaw is Series Producer at Emmerdale. In April 2018, Laura took over from predecessor Iain MacLeod and now co-produces the soap alongside Sophie Roper. Her first episode was transmitted on December 25, 2018. Laura has been at Emmerdale for over 20 years and was previously one of their script editors. She has also worked on TV series’ such as Josh, Such Brave Girls and Follow Your Bliss. On her X profile bio, Laura describes herself as: ‘”Emmerdale Producer, Wife, Mother, occasionally becomes Pat Butcher”.
Nader Mabadi
Nader Mabadi is the Head of Production at Emmerdale. He was born and raised in Leeds, studied Law at Sheffield, before returning to his home city to study English and Media. Nader joined the ITV family in 2004 and has worked on several productions within Entertainment, Drama and Continuing Drama. He’s been a runner, assistant Director, director, scheduler and production manager.
Emmerdale production team: The directors
Tim O’Mara
Tim O’Mara has directed over 300 episodes of Emmerdale. A successful writer and director, Tim started his career working as an English and Drama teacher. Since finding his way into television, Tim has directed more than 80 episodes of Coronation Street, 15 episodes of Hollyoaks, and dramas such as Casualty, The Royal and Byker Grove. In 2015, he directed four episodes of Ireland’s longest-running homegrown soap, Fair City. He also directed the 2010 Emmerdale spin-off drama The Dingles – For Richer for Poorer. Tim is dad to two grown up sons, Oliver and Oscar, both of whom represented Ireland in the student Rugby League World Cup.
Adrian Bean
Adrian Bean has directed 119 episodes of Emmerdale from 1997-2012 and again from 2023. The award-winning director and writer’s career started in the theatre, before he moved into directing television and radio dramas. Adrian’s credits include Casualty, Holby City, Hollyoaks, Heartbeat, The Royal, EastEnders, Doctors, Coronation Street, Brookside and Grange Hill. He also written for the BBC, Radio 3 and 4 and ITV, and co-produces for the independent film company, Mousehole Films.
Michael Lacey
Michael Lacey is a multi-award-winning director, who has directed over 170 episodes of Emmerdale since 2008. He began his career directing TV commercials in Japan, Mexico and LA, before moving into serial drama. Michael has directed some of the most dramatic moments in Emmerdale’s history, which include Marlon Dingle’s stroke. He also directed the historical sexual abuse episode featuring Aaron Dingle, for which Michael scooped the hat trick of BAFTA, Royal Television Society (RTS) and Broadcast Awards in 2016. Michael’s other credits include Casualty and Holby City and BBC1 period drama Father Brown.
Peter Rose
Peter Rose has been a member of the Emmerdale directing team since 2010, helming over 200 episodes. He began his career as an Assistant Floor Manager and Production Manager at the BBC. There he worked on series such as Bergerac, Howard’s Way and Kessler before graduating to directing and production. In 2002 he became the producer on revamped ITV soap Crossroads, then went on to work at EastEnders. He has worked extensively as a director for Coronation Street as well as Channel 4’s Hollyoaks and Holby City.
Miguel Guerreiro
Miguel Guerreiro has directed 19 episodes of Emmerdale since 2021. Originally from Portugal, Miguel has worked in film, television and theatre and directed all kinds of genres. His directing credits include EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Casualty. In 2022, he worked on Emmerdale’s 50th anniversary episodes. He also directed Hollyoaks: Out of Time, a special hour-long stunt week which was nominated for Best Single Episode at the British Soap Awards. Other productions that Miguel has worked on include The Ministry of Time, Father By Chance and Blood Ties.
Becky Wild
Becky Wild has directed 23 episodes of Emmerdale since 2020. She has also directed episodes of Coronation Street.
Chantelle Kayll
Chantelle Kayll has been a director at Emmerdale since 2021. Her route to the director’s chair came through working in the AD department as a Third, Second, then First AD. Drama productions that Chantelle has worked on include Benidorm, This is England ’88, Waterloo Road and Hillsborough. As well as Emmerdale, she has directed episodes of Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.
Alex Browning
Alex Browning is a director for Emmerdale, with over 15 episodes to his name. He joined the ITV soap in 2022, and has directed and written a number of short films with commissions from Sky Studios, BFI Network and Channel 4. His production of short film Daylight Rules, scooped the award for Best Afrofuturism at Atlanta Sci-Fi Festival and was released by Sky.
Ruth Platt
Ruth Platt is a director at Emmerdale. She read English Literature at University College, Oxford before training at RADA. Her micro budget feature, The Black Forest, premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival and was nominated for The Michael Powell Award for Best British Film.
Jason Wingard
Jason Wingard is one of Emmerdale’s newest directors. His previous television credits include Coronation Street, So Awkward and Warwick Davis Ace of Clubs. Jason directed the film In Another Life, which won Best UK Feature at Raindance Film Festival 2017 and the Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2017. Jason also directed and co-wrote the short film Going to Mecca, which was awarded the Kinofilm Best Comedy Award at the 2014 Manchester International Film Festival.
Richard Lynn
Richard Lynn has directed over 15 episodes of Emmerdale since 2021. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts. Richard has had numerous jobs as a Second and First AD. He’s directed episodes of EastEnders, Coronation Street, The Bill, Doctors and been part of the London team for Neighbours.
Cóilín Ó Scolaí
Cóilín Ó Scolaí is a director on Emmerdale and has over 15 episodes to his name. He originally trained as an actor in Trinity College, Dublin and did voice work for animations. After taking a television directors course in 1988, Cóilín went on to become Series Producer on Irish soap Ros na Rún. He was also the co-lead director on Red Rock and has directed episodes of EastEnders for the BBC.
Vicky Thomas
Vicky Thomas is a director at Emmerdale. Since starting with the soap in 2015, she has directed more than 60 episodes. Vicky has also got over 45 episodes of Coronation Street to her name, and worked on Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments. Her other jobs have included directing Beyond a Joke, Goodbye Granadaland, Yes Chef, Judge Rinder’s Crown Court and University Challenge: Class of 2014.
Jamie Annett
Jamie Annett is a director on Emmerdale. He has over 20 years of experience in the field, and was a core director on Holby City. Jamie got his big break directing music videos for the artist Dido. He has worked on over 100 episodes of EastEnders. His other credits include Waterloo Road, The Dumping Ground, Hollyoaks, Family Affairs, Where the Heart Is and Is Harry on the Boat?
Marcus Lee
Marcus Lee is one of the newest members of the Emmerdale directing team. This is his first role as a TV director, and his first episode aired in October 2023.
Gary Williams
Gary Williams has directed over 25 episodes of Emmerdale and has been part of their team since October 2019. Previously Gary worked as Head of the Camera Department and Director of Photography at Mersey Television. His other directing credits include Hollyoaks, The Dumping Ground, Moving On and Doctors.
Katie Fenton-Green
Katie Fenton-Green has directed nine episodes of Emmerdale to date. She started her career at ITV in May 2007 as an assistant stage manager before becoming a script supervisor the following year. She directed her first episode of the Yorkshire-based soap in 2021.
John Anderson
John Anderson is an established television director with over 200 episodes of Emmerdale to his name. His first credit for the soap was over 25 years ago, in 1998. John has also directed episodes of UK soaps Coronation Street and Hollyoaks as well as fan favourite dramas including Fat Friends and Heartbeat.
Brett Fallis
Brett Fallis is a BAFTA nominated director, who has more than 150 episodes of Emmerdale to his name since 2012. Brett began his career as an assistant floor manager for the BBC before graduating to the role of assistant director on dramas such as Jonathan Creek, The Object of Beauty, Paradise and Beck. He became a director in the late 1990s and his credits include EastEnders, Bad Girls, Grange Hill, Casualty, Doctors and over 130 episodes of Coronation Street.
Simon Ferguson
Simon Ferguson has directed over 65 episodes of Emmerdale in the past nine years. He started out on the soap as a camera operator on the soap. Simon’s other directing credits include episodes of Heartbeat and Coronation Street.