Emmerdale can anyone give me a brief overview pls?

[Wishful80sMontage]

I'm about to give up on my only soap corrie due to how dire it is ATM. Hear lots of people saying emmerdale is the best soap.
I've got a good idea who most of the characters are but can anyone spare a min and just tell me the major storylines I'll need to know to start watching
Thanks :)

Debby had an affair with petes brother ross who is the father of charity's baby.
Emma is unhinged.
Laurel was an alcoholic.
Cain is gorgeous.
Robert is a bad man. His affair with Aaron has been revealed and his step son I framing him for attempted murder.
Val and bob tried to con the bank. Val will fake her own death to avoid prison.

Thank you! Sounds lot more intriguing than corrie already :)

The Dingles all have biblical first names. (Big mistake with Cain)
Rodders is an ageing lothario who was once a male escort-leading to much hilarity.
Val also is HIV+ and tells everyone, whether they ask or not.
Lawrence used to be gay and had an affair with Edna's dh. She spragged and got him banged up. He seems to have lost the gay now.
Aaron is the grumpiest gay in the village.
Hotton has a wilder social scene/better shops than anywhere in England.

vag!!!!
Aaron truly is the grumpiest gay in the village.
I was confused about the Laurence/edna connection, thanks for shedding light on it.

where do I start......

Laurel - previously Miss prim and proper, never put a foot wrong, general do gooder. Was married to the vicar, fell in love with Marlon, was totally conflicted, when Vicar was caught beating up and neglecting his father they split up and she ended up with Marlon. Then became a raging alcoholic in the space of a month, shagged a random, split up with Marlon. She is miraculously tee total in the space of 2 weeks and back to being Miss prim and proper.

Marlon - a Dingle, previously in relationship with Rhona. Rhona left him for his best mate Paddy, but then found out was pregnant with Marlon's baby. They all fall out but now on good terms with Rhona and best mates with Paddy (the greatest bromance in Emmerdale's history). Was in love with Laurel for ages, finally get together. His ex, Donna, turns up and surprises him with unknown child. Puts a strain on his relationship with Laurel especially when Donna dies and he has daughter. See above for drunken Laurel.

Paddy - vet, hilarious. Loves Rhona. Loves Marlon (bromance). Loves Aaron (the grumpiest gay in the village) and views him as his son. Can do no wrong.

Rhona - Paddy's wife and ex squeeze of Marlon. Has beautiful baby Leo. Was addicted to perscription painkillers at one point and did all sorts for her fix including becoming temporarily a lesbian with her best mate. Now fairly sane and over her addiction.

Cain - a Dingle. Gorgeous. Can do no wrong in the viewer's eyes even though he is a bad un. Father of Debbie. Father of Kyle, who is little and was adopted out but has come back into village. Many previous criminal dodgy dealings. Ex of Charity (his cousin). Now married to Moira and is genuinely in love. Will do anything for his family. Recently beat the hell out of Robert Sugden (for good reason).

Moira - wife of Cain and a very lucky woman. Was previously married to John, had 3 kids, cheated on him with Cain. Was getting back with John when he died in an accident. Now with Cain and the only woman to have come close to taming him. Eldest son Adam was the product of a one night stand with her brother in law James back in the day. Lots of family grief but now calmed down. 2 daughter are out of it now.

More to come later. At work and have to pretend to do some.

And that's why we lurve Cain. Oh someone's gonna die tonight-hopefully awful Ross or his slightly unstable mum.

Debbie - a Dingle. Daughter of Cain and Charity. Has 2 kids and runs the local garage despite having the longest most perfect nails ever seen in Emmerdale. Has had numerous exes. Is marrying Pete but has been having a rampant affair with Ross, lucky lucky girl. Was about to leave with Ross when found out that he was the father of Charity's baby, Moses. Fed up with his constant lying she decided to go ahead with marriage to Pete.

Charity - a Dingle. Sister of Cain, mother of Aaron (grumpiest gay in the village). Various exes including Paddy, whose heart she broke. Had a huge storyline by having affair with one of Debbie's past boyfriends who turned into a psycho. Was dating James but split up when he cheated on her with his ex wife, the nut case Emma. Part owner of the pub with Diane. Generally all round good sport who would do anything for her son Aaron.

Belle - a Dingle. Child of Zach the patriarch of the clan and Lisa. Accidentally killed her best friend a while back during a teenage spat. Went to prison/young offenders. Came out but became a schizophrenic due to trauma of it all. Generally a good kid.

Adam - son of Moira and recently discovered James was his father as a result
of fling. Has been through every decent looking girl in the village. Was with Victoria Sugden when he proposed and she said no. Had a one night stand with Vanessa the vet. Vanessa ends up pregnant and everyone thinks he is the father. Does get back with Victoria and very recently they eloped to get married. Decent spud, nice but dim, makes the odd stupid decision. In business with Aaron (grumpiest gay in the village) and his best mate.

Oh my goodness! That's a blast from the past-when it became racy emmerdale rather than emmerdale farm they culled a lot of the more boring residents with a plane crash-what's the chances of it happening twice? (Pretty good apparently)

Emmerdale sounds good these days last time i watched it dianne was married to Jack Val has Hiv what how

Is vals gay son still in it and Laurel turned to drink LAUREL !

Cain is lush

Vals gay son made an appearance when she was near to deaths door, I loved him.
Notice Lockie's psycho tendencies towards women have been brushed under the carpet.

Chastity not Charity, slattern not correcting you for any reason apart from they are different people and should not be confused.

Charity is banged up in prison but managed to get pregnant and have a surprise baby - it turned out to be Ross's baby.

It has long since taken over as my soap of choice, the plot lines are fanciful but well played out and the actors seem to be enjoying their lines unlike corrie where they now all seem to be embarrassed by thier own presence on set (I would be- it has nose dived recently).

Slattern thank you - apart from the Charity / Chastity thing.
My brain almost came out of my ears trying to work that out!

Ooops, sorry for the typo - Chastity is Cain's sister and mother of Aaron.

In order to recompense for my earlier mistake ........

Charity - a Dingle, conniving and manipulative. Likes the high life. Ex of Cain. Mother of Debbie and Noah. Would do anything for money (past profession of prostititution). Was married to Jai, until he shagged the cleaner. Then took up with Declan as he was rich. Very destructive relationship particularly when she aborted his very much wanted by him child. Declan turned psycho and tried to kill her. She is currently in prison for one of her many misdeeds. Had baby Moses in prison who she gave to Debbie.

James - daddy of the Barton clan. Had a one night stand with Moira, his sister in law, years ago fathering Adam. Did have a bit of yen for Moira more recently but got over it when he realised she lied to him about Adam. Father of the other Barton boys. Has been separated from their mother Emma for donkeys. Was dating Chastity but shagged the ex Emma after a row with Chastity. Regretted it instantly but Chastity couldn't get past it. Loves his boys.

Pete - a Barton boy. Supposed to be the upright member of the clan but viewers are supposed to forget he was a drug dealer at one point. Loves Debbie. Until very recently had no idea Debbie was having an affair with his brother Ross.

Ross - lovely lovely Ross. A Barton boy. A bad un (the new generation Cain). Came into it initially when carjacked Laurel. Dodgy criminal type who fell completely for policewoman Donna (Marlon's ex). Was absolutely gutted when Donna died, not least because she failed to tell him she was terminally ill. Had a bit of a flirt with Debbie, then shagged Charity, then fell for Debbie properly. Newly discovered to be father of Charity's baby Moses. Black sheep of the family.

Finn - a Barton boy. Openly gay. Best friend of Victoria. Fancied Aaron at one point. Never really had a decent storey line.

Emma - mother of the Barton boys. Only in it recently. Turns out she nearly killed Ross when he was baby, PND, which is why James bucked her out. Now trying to get back in with her boys despite not seeing them for 18 odd years. Still in love with James. Is a nut case of the highest order. Sever temper problems which the viewer has seen but not her family.

Thank you all do much- watched the last 2 nights and really enjoyed it- I'm sure they're not all this exciting though!
But so far its fab :)

And there is more

Robert - a Sugden from one of the original Emmerdale families. Was previously played by a different actor. Had an affair with his brother's wife, Katie, and left the village for years. Came back not too long ago (the current actor) as the other half of Chrissie whose father is in the big house and has money. Was horrible to his brother, Andy, and Katie, who were now back together. Started a very clandestine affair with Aaron (grumpiest gay on th village). Katie found out and threatened to tell Chrissie. Culminates in him pushing Katie who falls down a hole and dies all on Robert's wedding day to Chrissie. Guilt over Katie's death and Andy's attempted suicide make Robert form a better relationship with Andy. When Paddy finds out about his affair with Aaron Robert tries to kill Paddy. He later threatens the lives of Paddy's family if he tells. Aaron finds out and goes and tells Chrissie anyway.

Andy - a Sugden. On and off with Katie but had just remarried her when she died, courtesy of Robert's shove. Andy has no idea of Robert's involvement but has stopped being on good terms with Robert since finding out about his affair with Aaron. Has had mental health problems in past. Fathered 2 children with Debbie. Physically abused his ex girlfriend, but has since been 'cured', viewers are supposed to have forgotten about this storey line.

Vanessa - the vet. Best friend of Rhona, was briefly in love with Rhona but Rhona was only using her to get more drugs. After that storey line was over decided she was heterosexual and started relationship with toy boy Kirin. Fling turned into serious romance with Kirin. Was treated for breast cancer, during which time she split with Kirin and had one night stand with Adam. Back with Kirin but is now pregnant, did a DNA test. Kirin's father intercepted the results and changed them from Kirin being the dad to Adam so everyone incorrectly thinks Adam is the father. Kirin and Vanessa split up despite being totally in love.

Jai - started off a decent bloke. Was married to Charity who refused to have children with him. Had a one night stand with cleaner resulting in pregnancy. Set her up in home and supported her. Charity left him when found out about baby. Started seeing Megan, had affair with Lyla, broke up with Megan. At this point complete personality changed. Up to all sorts to get custody of kid, marries Megan to improve his chances of getting kid, starts affair with Lyla again. Is now a complete bastard.

Worth tuning in just to be jealous of Moira (Cain's wife).

She lucked out there.
I've told this story on here before but a friend states in the same hotel as some soap stars after an event she said a few of them were really stuck up but the guy who played Cain sat and chatted away to people in the hotel apparently really down to earth. This going back about 5 years hope he's still as nice :)