Today is Archery day. Archery has been covered already, so today I’m going to present ten facts about the world’s longest running Radio drama, the British radio soap, The Archers.
It was first broadcast nationwide on 1 January 1951. The first lines spoken were by Dan and Doris: Dan: "And a happy new year to you all." Doris: "A very happy new year, Dan." Dan: "Thanks, mother. If it's as good as the last 'un I'll be satisfied." Prior to that, though, there was a pilot episode which was broadcast on the Midlands Home Service on 29 May 1950. Back then, it was promoted as "an everyday story of country folk".
The creator of the show was Godfrey Baseley, who had produced Dick Barton for the BBC. It was originally intended to be a dramatised public information programme to help farmers increase production when food was still rationed in the UK. To this day there is still a lot of detail about what is going on on a farm at the current time of year.
The theme tune is Barwick Green from Arthur Wood’s suite My Native Heath. In 1972, the Somerset folk group The Yetties recorded a version which now accompanies the Sunday omnibus edition. Incidentally, Billy Connolly once suggested that this tune should be the UK National Anthem.
One of the suggested names for the village in the show was Little Twittington, but Ambridge was chosen in the end. Ambridge is in the fictional county of Borsetshire. The local ale is called Shires, regional Cheese is Borsetshire Blue and the Borchester Beauty is a variety of Apple. The village even has its own fake history: the parish church, St Stephen's, dates back to AD540, dedicated to St Stephen in 1291; and is recorded in the Domesday Book as "The Prior of St Mary's, Worcester, holds Ambridge with one berewick." The main farms in The Archers are Brookfied Farm, Bridge Farm, Home Farm and Grange Farm, and the pub is called The Bull. Incidentally, there’s a clear case of Nominative Determinism here as there has been a cook there called Freda Fry.
It takes just eight days to record five weeks of episodes, with each 13 minute episode taking two hours to record. The recording takes place in Birmingham, which is 20 miles from Ambridge. Most of the cast read their lines, apart from Ryan Kelly, who plays milkman Jazzer McCreary. He is blind and so he learns his lines beforehand.
Some of the sound effects you might hear include rustling straw (a box of reel to reel tape); a farm gate closing (an ironing board being collapsed swiftly. Incidentally, they’ve been using the same one since the 1950s); a lamb being born (the sound effects person squelching their hand in a pot of Yogurt, then throwing a wet towel on to some old audio tape). To make the sound of a cup of Tea being poured, freshly boiled water is used, because cold water has a different density and makes a different sound. This is Britain after all, and listeners would be able to tell the difference!
Phil Archer, portrayed by Norman Painting, may be the character with the longest storyline. Originally involved as an agricultural storyline researcher for The Archers of Wimberton Farm, he turned his hand to acting and ended up in the Guinness Book of Records for playing the same role, without a break, for more than 50 years. This isn’t to say he didn’t want a break. He also wrote some of the scripts, 1,198 to be exact, between 1966 and 1982 under the pen name Bruno Milna. He tried several times to kill his character off but presumably some editor somewhere always vetoed it. He was a composer, too. He wrote Phil Archer's favourite hymn, Waiting for a Wonder, and played the organ on air when Phil was playing the organ.
The first Archers birth was on 16 February 1951, when Peggy Archer (now Woolley) gave birth to her son Tony. The first death was on 22 September 1955 when Grace Archer died after trying to save her Horses from a fire. 20 million people listened to that episode. BBC executives claimed it was pure coincidence that this episode was broadcast on the night ITV was launched. The first woman to be sent to jail in Ambridge was Susan Carter, on December 23, 1993 for harbouring her brother after an armed robbery. Some listeners actually appealed to the Home Secretary to help get her out. The first major disaster was in 1952 when a jet crashed into a lower field of Brookfield Farm. The first murder in Ambridge is yet to happen. It’s a much safer place to live than Midsomer, then.
Storylines are planned up to 20 years in advance. Yes, there are people out there who know what will happen in the Archers in 2044! That said, scriptwriters have the flexibility to re-write episodes at the last minute in response to real life events. The 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth, the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother and the engagement of Prince William have all prompted last minute changes to the script.
Guest stars appearing as themselves have included Princess Margaret, Sir Bradley Wiggins, John Peel, Sir Terry Wogan, Britt Ekland, Dame Edna Everage, Alan Titchmarsh, and the Pet Shop Boys. Elvis, Madonna and Marilyn also appeared. They were the names of three peacocks who used to live at The Bull.
No comments:
Post a Comment