The Archers - the best of British (The Archers (R4))

Member Name: spaslet

Product:	The Archers (R4)
Date:	04/03/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Like a favourite old sweater

Disadvantages: The weight of history

I am a complete and unabashed Archers junkie. When I looked at the ( very few ) reviews on here I saw that they came from 2001 and thought it was time for another look at this longest running of soaps ( soap for the intellectual middle classes - or so us addicts like to think !!).
On at just after 7pm Sunday to Friday Radio 4. Omnibus edition at 10.00am on Sunday mornings - slightly truncated.

Running since the early 1950s , I believe this is the longest running soap in the world. Originally started as an agricultural public information show ( learn while you are entertained ! ) it has long been pure adulterated soap although it still has country themes. It is set in Ambridge in Borsetshire and , like all good soaps, it features one family , not surprisingly called ....Archer.

Although it has it's moments of high drama ( the deaths of John Archer, Mark Hebden and the most famous of all - Grace Archer ) its bedrock is the mundane trivia of day to day life. For example the last episode had an arrest by the Serious Fraud Office ( all right , not so mundane !) and the proposed buying out of a ( premium - very important )sausage business. Norman Painting ( who plays Phil Archer ) has been in the series since the beginning and a lot of the characters have very long histories , one or two having hardly changed the actors.

This is no Eastenders though - no great drama timed to coincide with Christmas - generally the village pantomime is the most exciting event here -and in recent months we have had the Fat Club, marmalade making, house renovation , TB in the herd - the list is endless. More modern issues have been tackled in attemt to bring things up to date - there is an openly gay character who entered into a civil partnership , a multifaith wedding ( C of E vicar and Hindu - my goodness that split the village apart and Shula Archer has left the village church over it . Mind you she has only transferred her allegiance to Felpersham cathedral - Now do you see what I mean about middle class ! ) The current long running modern tackle an issue theme is Alzheimers - Jack Woolley , a very successful local businessman has developed the condition . Very difficult to include in what is essentially a light entertainment programme , but to my mind handled sensitively and effectively.

There are working class characters scratching a living and a sort of old feud between the Grundys and The Archers. The credit crunch doesn't appear to have hit Ambridge yet however.

My parents listened to The Archers and I remember the storylines from the early 60s. One of the earliest I reall was Jennifer Aldridge ( nee Archer - of course ! ) and her illegitimate son ( who is the gay character living with his partner Adam and Ian ) My mother didn't think that an appropriate storyline for a six year old and we all stopped listening for .... at least a week. She couldn't keep away fortunately and I was hooked. The only real interlude I had was when I went missing for a couple of years as an ubercool student - but then I realised it was top ubercool to be a fan and I returned .

My husband is now as hooked as I am although I have to fill him in on the history and that really is my only criticism. The beauty of such a long running series is character development ( Jennifer , illegitimate child , now 40 and gay ) Huge amounts of scope but the scriptwriters often are fairly new and characters can change personality without warning or reason. The weight of the history and the long standing listeners , like me , can make the scriptwriters jobs very difficult . The story is also a bit inacessible to the new listener ( if he has no faithful fan to help ) so if you are tempted ....persevere.

The BBC website has a very active and extremely critical message board which can be hugely entertaining - as well as super critical bad tempered and plain daft.

One thing I will guarantee. You may never have listened to The Archers, you may not have heard of it .... but you will know the theme tune. Barwick Green and it goes like this Da de da da dee etc ( oh give it a try and you will know what the das and dees were trying to say.

Summary: Give it a try