Emmerdale star, Eric Allan, who played Frank Blakey in the early days of the soap has sadly died aged 85. The Archers favourite starred in the programme when it was known as Emmerdale Farm before it was reinvented as Emmerdale. After leaving the soap in 1974 after his character married Janie Harker in Emmerdale's first ever wedding, Eric went onto become known as a soap opera veteran after playing farmer, Bert Fry, on Radio 4's The Archers for 25 years. He took over the role of Bert from Roger