2020 was Emmerdale's 49th year. Production was overseen by producers Kate Brooks and Laura Shaw and executive producer Jane Hudson.

Major storylines included the whodunnit murder of Graham Foster and subsequent wrongful imprisonment of Marlon Dingle, Vanessa Woodfield being kidnapped by Pierce Harris and her diagnosis of bowel cancer, Dawn Taylor, Will Taylor and Harriet Finch being terrorised by bent copper Mark Malone and their cover-up of his murder, Jamie Tate running over Moira Dingle and framing Belle Dingle and Nate Robinson, the return of Moira's long-lost brother Mackenzie Boyd and Vinny Dingle's father Paul Ashdale's gambling addiction and abuse of his son.