Emmerdale Farm was created when writer Kevin Laffan was asked to write a lunchtime farming serial for ITV, though he initially declined because his agent warned that writing a soap opera would tarnish his reputation as a playwright.

The show's premise was similar to BBC Radio 4's The Archers, and its outdoor farmyard filming style was modelled on RTÉ's Irish soap opera The Riordans, prompting Yorkshire Television to send staff to observe its production in County Meath.

The first episode began with the Sugden family gathering for a funeral, a choice that Yorkshire Television's head of serial dramas Peter Willes disliked as a downbeat, 'big switch-off' opening, but which creator Kevin Laffan insisted on for dramatic reasons.

Exterior scenes were originally filmed in the village of Arncliffe in Littondale, where the real Falcon hotel served as the fictional Woolpack Inn, before production moved to Esholt in 1976, where the real Commercial Inn was renamed the Woolpack at the owner's agreement.

Early farmhouse scenes were shot at Lindley Farm, owned by farmer Arthur Peel; Yorkshire Television promised to keep his identity and farm location secret, but viewers eventually found out and would visit hoping to meet the cast.

A purpose-built replica set of Esholt was constructed on the Harewood estate starting in 1996 and has been used for filming since 1997, after being officially opened by Prime Minister John Major.

Production temporarily returned to the original Esholt location in 2016 to film a special episode about Ashley Thomas' onset of dementia, using the real village to visually represent his disorientation.

The 1993 episode in which a plane crashed into the fictional village of Beckindale drew Emmerdale's highest-ever audience of 18 million viewers and marked the show's transformation into a major primetime soap.

In 2018, Claire King reprised her role as Kim Tate after nearly 20 years away, initially for a special week of episodes before resuming the role permanently in 2019.

Meena Jutla's serial killer storyline, introduced in 2020, proved so popular that it helped push Emmerdale to become the UK's most-watched soap opera in January 2022, though the character's violent scenes also drew hundreds of complaints to Ofcom.

In March 2019, Emmerdale aired an episode made entirely by an all-female cast and crew to mark International Women's Day, which executive producer Jane Hudson called an opportunity to showcase female talent both on and off camera.