reading

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor transmitted, nor translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the publishers.

This is a revised and extended edition of The Archers: An Unofficial Companion by Rosie Dillon (2011), which contained research by Sarah Herman.

Beth Miller has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This detailed little book, For the Love of The Archers by Beth Miller, brought back fond memories for me, as I am now in my forty-first year of playing Brian Aldridge. I often find it hard to believe that all that time has passed, since aged 32 (I am five months older than Brian) I joined the Archers cast, but in reading and poring over the facts, from its beginning in 1951 to the present day, it is easier for me to come to terms with the passage of time. What a passage of time it has been for the programme, though: the longest running drama series in the world. All of us involved in The Archers, in whatever capacity – actors, producers, writers, technical staff – are proud of the part we play.

For the Love of The Archers will bring gasps of joy and horror, amusement and recollection to all, from those aging listeners who boast, quite rightly, to having listened to every episode since its inception, to those who have become addicted more recently. So sit back with a cup of tea, or something stronger, and wallow in this bran tub of Archers facts and figures. I did, and I have to confess how little I knew, and how much I had forgotten. This book will really help me now with the continuity, as I continue, hopefully, to play Brian into his dotage!

Unlike Ambridge, which is a constant in an uncertain world, this book does not have a fixed structure. The reader is encouraged to dip in and out, lingering wherever they like. There are, though, some waymarkers in the form of repeating features. For instance, there are brief descriptions of the important locations in the village, under the heading ‘Welcome to Ambridge’. Pen portraits of all the main inhabitants are offered in ‘Meet the Characters’, while those who have shuffled off this mortal radio coil are commemorated in ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’. ‘Famous Faces in Ambridge’ details the celebrity appearances in radio’s favourite village, while ‘Making The Archers’ offers fascinating glimpses behind the scenes. Some of the themes that have cropped up in the programme are explored in ‘Issues in Ambridge’, and Archers fans, well-known and not, share their loves and hates in the ‘Listener Portraits’ which are sprinkled throughout the book. Some key storylines are relived in ‘Memorable Moments’, and you can test your in-depth knowledge by heading along to ‘Quiz Night at the Bull’ (answers at the back of the book). There are also a few stand-alone sections, to keep you on your toes. However you read the book – page by page, section by section, or from the back – and whether you are a hardcore fanatic or a brand-new listener, I hope it enhances your appreciation of all things Ambridge.

‘Well, me old pal, me old beauty,’ were the soon-to-be legendary words that Walter Gabriel chortled on Whit Monday, 29 May 1950. As the programme began its five-day pilot run, the now familiar tune of ‘Barwick Green’ introduced the Midlands to the Archer family and the minutiae of their rural lives. Over sixty-five years later, The Archers is the longest-running drama serial of all time, anywhere in the world, and continues to draw almost five million listeners every week in the UK alone.

While it just recounts the lives of ordinary country folk from Ambridge, this hasn’t stopped fans tuning in for five or, in recent years, six episodes every week to keep up to date with their favourite farmers. From dramatic births and deaths, love affairs and violent crimes to foot-and-mouth, farm sales, business ventures, cricket matches and village fêtes, Ambridge life is anything but dull. The commitment to lengthy storylines and the longevity of families and characters makes the programme’s depiction of rural life realistic, but also entertaining and often gripping and moving for listeners.

But mainly it’s the humdrum everyday life of the Ambridge villagers that keeps us coming back for more. For many fans 7 p.m. just wouldn’t be the same without a drink at The Bull, a chat in the kitchen at Brookfield Farm or the gentle moo of a cow grazing on open pasture. And who could imagine summer without the stalls of the village fête, September without knowing who’s grown the best beans for the Flower and Produce Show and the build-up to Christmas without Lynda Snell plotting another theatrical extravaganza?

Covering the farms, families, deaths, dramas, animals and community antics, this book is a trip down a country memory lane and a delightful compendium of facts and frolics of Archers life. Find out what goes on behind the scenes and test your knowledge of Britain’s best-loved radio drama with the themed quizzes throughout the book. Now, raise a pint of Shires to many more years of Ambridge.

In the first five pilot episodes of The Archers, which aired in just the Midlands in Whit Week, 1950, the Archer family worked on Wimberton Farm, on the fringe of the village of Ambridge. Wimberton Farm was changed to Brookfield Farm for the three-month trial run, broadcast nationally from 1 January 1951.

The original idea for the programme came from well-known Lincolnshire farmer Henry Burtt at a meeting between the BBC and farming representatives when he announced, ‘What we need is a farming Dick Barton.’ Dick Barton was an adventure serial surrounding the exploits of a secret agent.

Up until 1962, almost every one of the 3,000 Archers episodes was written by Dick Barton scriptwriters Geoffrey Webb or Edward J. Mason.

The first editor Godfrey Baseley used to invite senior figures from the farming world to appear as themselves on the programme. In 1961 Sir Richard Trehane, chairman of the Milk Marketing Board, visited Ambridge and stayed as a guest of Charles Grenville and Carol Grey.

Originally, cast members were paid varying amounts due to budget constraints – between £9 and £12 a week – but to avoid disputes they were led to believe they were all receiving the same fee. This wasn’t kept a secret for long and Norman Painting (Phil Archer) was quick to voice his complaints when he discovered he was earning £2 less each week than Harry Oakes (Dan Archer).

An introductory programme to ease listeners into The Archers before it started airing nationally was produced by Godfrey Baseley and transmitted in December 1950. The programme featured Godfrey visiting ‘Ambridge’ in a ‘mobile recording vehicle’ and talking to the characters as if they were real. He had a cup of tea at Brookfield Farm and commented on the possibility of a romance between Phil and Grace. The programme ended with Godfrey inviting listeners to come and eavesdrop some more on these country folk in January 1951.

Within weeks of the first national episodes airing, the programme had an audience of two million.

Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the National Farmers’ Union were on the programme’s original advisory team, helping writers to include factual and informative farming messages.

WELCOME TO AMBRIDGE:

AMBRIDGE HALL

Ambridge Hall was originally built as the home for the village doctor.

Erected in the 1860s, the Hall is built from yellow brick, has six bedrooms and a garden that extends down to the River Am.

Laura Archer originally left Ambridge Hall to her lodger Colonel Danby in her will, but never signed the top copy of the will, so it was sold off to the Snells.

The Snells decided to transform their home into a guest house, decorated – naturally – using the principles of feng shui.

Lynda Snell developed the gardens so they were full of low-allergen plants, including a Shakespearean plot that only features plants named in the works of the Bard, in a possibly unconscious but wholly appropriate homage to E. F. Benson’s novel Mapp and Lucia (1931). Lynda was delighted when Matthew Wilson visited the garden to record a special feature for Gardeners’ Question Time in early 2011.

Unfortunately, the house and garden, being right on the Am, were submerged in the dramatic floods of 2015. Lynda’s delightful garden was sadly ruined, and the Hall left in need of some serious redecorating. However, these material losses were as nothing compared to the disappearance of Scruff, the Snell’s beloved dog, now presumed dead.

On 2 April 1984 milk quotas were introduced into the EU for farms producing milk or other milk products to try to restrain the rise in milk production. In Ambridge this saw Brookfield Farm reduce its dairy herd from 110 to 95 to comply with the quota it was set. The milk quotas gave Tony and Pat Archer the incentive they needed to turn Bridge Farm organic. By reducing their dairy herd they were able to let go their full-time worker Malcolm Lewis and dedicate more funds and time to cutting out artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides. They made a commitment to converting 30 acres a year over five years and in 1985 they grew 10 acres of organic wheat, carrots and potatoes. By 1989 they were able to declare themselves fully organic and apply for Soil Association status. The storyline was inspired by a scriptwriter’s visit to Brynllys Farm in Ceredigion, Wales, the UK’s first certified organic dairy farm.

When Brian Aldridge received hefty subsidy cheques for Home Farm in the 1990s, Tony and Pat were jealous – subsidies for organic farmers were considerably less – but proud of their achievements. Yet in 1999 their younger son Tom was so outraged by the introduction of GM oil seed rape on Brian’s land that he destroyed the crop and faced criminal charges. This was a realistic reflection of the disputes between organic and GM producers going on in the countryside. Two years after Tony Blair’s 1997 electoral promise to introduce licences for experimental farming and reduce anti-GM hysteria, producers and consumers were still battling it out. While some farmers embraced GM crops and regarded dissenters as ‘anti-science’, organic farmers were concerned that modified organisms would cross-pollinate with natural species, changing them irreversibly for the future.

There was no denying the success of organic farming, with sales of organic products in the UK increasing from £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (and to £1.86 billion in 2014). Bridge Farm reflected this growth as Pat expanded her dairy business from yogurt to ice cream and secured a lucrative contract with Underwoods, the Borchester department store. In 2000 the Archers opened their own farm shop in Borchester, ‘Ambridge Organics’, selling daughter Helen’s well-known cheeses among the array of other organic offerings. But in 2011 the organic dream became more of a nightmare, as an outbreak of E. coli was traced back to Bridge Farm ice-cream. The fallout, during which the accidental culprit Clarrie resigned, left the farm’s reputation – and income – in tatters. Rebranding the ice cream from Bridge Farm to Ambridge Organics helped somewhat, but the business struggled to regain its former status. Tom eventually convinced Tony and Pat to sell the dairy herd and buy in milk from elsewhere to make their products. In 2015 Helen and Tom made the decision to sell their shop in Borchester, following poor sales, and relocate it back to Bridge Farm, where there had originally been a farm shop in the 1990s.

QUIZ NIGHT AT THE BULL

WHAT’S ON IN AMBRIDGE?

1. Which Ambridge event is celebrated on or around 21 October?

2. Where did the fireworks take place to mark the Queen’s Coronation in 1953?

3. In 2003 which event saw the residents of Ambridge raise £300 for the church?

4. What was the name of the original donkey used at Ambridge’s Palm Sunday services before Benjamin took his place?

5. What was the theme of Valentine’s Night at The Bull in 2015?

6. Which popular literary character did Daniel Hebden Lloyd dress up as for Halloween in 2001?

7. Who co-produced 2003’s Ambridge Mystery Plays with Lynda Snell?

8. At which event is the Lawson-Hope Cup presented?

9. Who was crowned Miss Ambridge at the 1977 Ambridge Fête, despite being from Penny Hassett?

10. In which country did Bert and Freda Fry spend Valentine’s Day in 2006?

11. What was planted in 2012 to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?

12. What potentially dangerous incident was narrowly averted at Brookfield’s Open Farm Sunday in 2012?

David and Ruth live and work at Brookfield, which was inherited from David’s father Phil. David’s mother Jill now lives with them, along with their children Pip, Josh and Ben. Pip’s beginning to forge her own career in farming, while Josh and Ben are still at school, though Josh is keen on farming and is likely to join the family business one day. Jill cooks up a storm, keeps bees and still misses Phil, to whom she was married for more than fifty years. David usually seems to be estranged from one of his siblings: most recently Kenton, after David backed out of selling Brookfield; and Elizabeth before that, because of what she regarded as David’s role in her husband Nigel’s death.

In 2014 Ruth was the driving force behind a planned move to Prudhoe, where her ailing mother lives. The family came close to moving, making an offer on a farm in Northumberland, and accepting Justin Elliott’s over-the-odds offer of £7 million for theirs. But David couldn’t go through with the plan and backed out, so it looks like there will be Archers at Brookfield for a long time to come.

David and Ruth’s marriage has been rocked by infidelity, breast cancer, a miscarriage, and a complete difference of opinion about leaving Ambridge. But it seems to always continue, strong as ever.

Jill was wearing a yellow dress when Phil spotted her for the first time at the fête in 1957.

Jill and Phil named their twins Shula and Kenton by throwing alphabet blocks into the air.

Philippa Rose Archer, known by all as Pip, was named after her granddad Phil and her Aunt Rose.

Joshua Matthew Archer is, like his older sister Pip, a natural farmer. Jill taught him the skills of bee-keeping.

Benjamin David Archer was born at home at Brookfield Farm on Eddie Grundy’s birthday.

Whatever else David does, he will most likely be remembered for the time he shot a badger in a fit of rage.

PORTRAIT OF THE WRITER AS A LISTENER:

JOANNA TROLLOPE

Joanna Trollope is the best-selling author of seventeen novels, including A Village Affair, The Rector’s Wife and The Choir.

When and why did you start listening? It’s been so long that I can’t remember how or why I started – possibly because I’m old enough to remember Mrs Dale’s Diary, and I think The Archers must have been a natural follow on!

What’s your most memorable Ambridge moment? I thought the scene where Elizabeth confessed her fling with Roy to her mother was wonderfully well acted and written. I always think The Archers are at their best for scenes of emotional crisis – those are as good as the attempts at broad comedy are cringeworthy.

Which character would you most like to meet? One of the subtler characters – someone like Usha, for example.

Which character drives you crazy? The ones who drive me crazy, with the exception of Clarrie, are the Grundys…

If you could make one change to The Archers, it would be… The one change I would like to make is the sort of Mummerset treatment of all the people with regional accents – but I think its general narrative and emotional drive is wonderful!

WELCOME TO AMBRIDGE:

ARKWRIGHT HALL

The Hall is situated in Grey Gables Country Park by its own lake.

While the house is Victorian, its foundations date back as early as the seventeenth century.

After Charles Grenville bought the building in 1959, John Tregorran supervised its renovation and saw it transformed into a community centre.

Before Jack Woolley became the Hall’s new owner in 1965, the youth-orientated Cellar Club (opened in 1963) provided a soundproofed room for bands to play and kept the building in use.

The Hall has been a leisure centre and a field studies centre, but was left unoccupied for many years. It has since been renovated by the Landmark Trust and serves as distinctive holiday accommodation.

If any Ambridge couple could be said to have taken their time to ‘get it together’, Mark Hebden and Shula Archer would be in line for the title. Despite proposing to her on New Year’s Eve 1980, Mark didn’t tie the knot with Shula until nearly five years later, and even then married life was hardly a smooth ride. While Mark was a good egg – Borchester Under-14 Judo Champion, hang-gliding and sky-diving enthusiast and passionate solicitor with promising career prospects – it took Shula some time to figure out he was the man for her. In the interim, Mark embarked on relationships with Jackie Woodstock (she proposed, but he ended it over accusations she was flirting with other men on a skiing holiday) who lived with him at Penny Hassett, and fiancée Sarah Locke – the blonde, bubbly daughter of the senior partner at law firm Locke and Martin. When that engagement went south, Mark took a job offer in Hong Kong to help him move on. Shula visited him there and on his return he proposed to her on Lakey Hill.

Unfortunately, their married life was no smoother than their courtship. They struggled to conceive a baby – Shula had an ectopic pregnancy, and eventually after battling her demons over her sister’s abortion, they opted for IVF – and Mark’s commitment to his work put a lot of strain on the relationship. After a stint working in Birmingham he moved a lot closer to home, setting up a practice in Borchester with Usha Franks (then Gupta) as his partner. Before his death he took on the controversial case of defending Susan Carter when she was accused of hiding her fugitive brother Clive. Tragically, Mark never did learn the wonderful news that his wife’s second shot at IVF had been successful. On 17 February 1994, a few days shy of his thirty-ninth birthday, Mark was driving home when a reckless driver overtook him on a blind bend – he swerved to avoid horse rider Caroline Bone, whose horse had thrown her to the ground, and ploughed into a tree. He died instantly and missed the birth of his longed-for son Daniel and what could have been many happy years together with Shula. He is commemorated every year with the Single Wicket Competition, the winner of which is awarded the Mark Hebden Memorial Trophy.

WELCOME TO AMBRIDGE:

BERROW FARM

Despite its bucolic name, this ‘mega-dairy’ is home to 1,500 cows and uses the highest of high-tech. The plan for the dairy was originally proposed by Debbie Aldridge, and championed by her stepfather Brian, though it’s been run by Damara Capital since their takeover of Borchester Land in 2014.

Brian’s backing of the controversial farm caused friction with some members of his immediate family, particularly Adam, and his brother and sister-in-law Tony and Pat, who were horrified at the thought of cattle being kept permanently indoors.

Rob Titchener was brought in as herd manager in January 2013.

The fact that the cows’ slurry would be used to supply an anaerobic digester appalled quite a lot of other village folk, particularly those living downwind of Berrow Farm. There were public meetings and demonstrations against the building of the farm, but it went ahead anyway, with the first heifers arriving in August 2013.

At the Open Farm Sunday in 2014, a cow went into labour, but unfortunately the calf died, which was of course the image that the local paper ran with.

It may be a small rural community nestled near the Hassett Hills, but that hasn’t stopped some big names from popping round for a visit. In fact a number of well-known faces – or rather, voices – have appeared as themselves on the programme over the last sixty years, mingling with the good country folk of Ambridge.

The annual fête in 1952, held on the last Saturday in June, was opened by Gilbert Harding. The journalist and What’s My Line? panellist had worked with Archers creator Godfrey Baseley on some of his earlier farming programmes.

Band leader Humphrey Lyttelton showed up in Ambridge in 1957 to open the church fête to raise money for the roof. The humorous jazz musician delivered a speech poking fun at the vicar and his ‘outlaws’ trying to take money from the rich to help the poor church roof!

After Dan Archer bumped into World War Two army veteran and Dam Busters actor Richard Todd at a National Dairy Farmers’ lunch, he persuaded him to stop by the village to open the 1962 village fête. Much to 17-year-old Jennifer Archer’s delight, her grandfather invited the actor for a drink at The Bull, even if she did have to listen to them talking about farming.

Ambridge hosted its first royal visit in 1984 when Princess Margaret made an appearance as herself. She was attending the Borsetshire NSPCC Centenary Fashion Show held at Grey Gables – the charity of which she was president. Her part was recorded at Kensington Palace, where the Princess was concerned about noise being made by plumbers and the sound of a ticking clock in the room.

When Robert and Lynda Snell went to see Dame Edna Everage at the theatre in 1988 they found themselves sitting so close to the front that Lynda found herself being addressed by Dame Edna herself and becoming the butt of some of Edna’s jokes, although Lynda thought it was in fact she