New Archers episodes reveal life under lockdown in Ambridge

Radio 4’s rural soap, waylaid by coronavirus, is back on 25 May to reflect contemporary events

Fans of The Archers had been worrying about young Johnny’s hair loss, Lynda’s recovery after the Grey Gables explosion and Kirsty’s impending marriage to a birdwatching slave master when the coronavirus changed everything.

Instead, 12 scripts and five weeks of storylines that were about to be written were summarily binned, the show’s editor, Jeremy Howe, has revealed.

In the early days of the pandemic it felt less like recording in Ambridge and “more like fighting the Battle of the Alamo”, Howe said, as producers set about coming up with new ways of making the programme.

Regular broadcasts of The Archers ended in early May to be replaced by three weeks of classics, also known as repeats, from the archives. Next week, the Radio 4 soap returns with life in Ambridge under lockdown.

Writing in the Radio Times, Howe says: “We had to start from scratch, and we had to figure out a new way to make The Archers so that everything – absolutely everything – could be done remotely. It was probably the biggest challenge the programme has ever had to face.”

Actors have had to create their own home studios with a microphone on a stand, linked to a computer, and as many duvets as they can find to cocoon themselves in.

Before the lockdown, there was lots of communal cricket practice banter and chats in the pub, now restored to its proper name of the Bull rather than The B at Ambridge.

The new Archers will reflect contemporary events with newly written stories. Howe said: “I told the team: keep it simple.”

Howe said he had been humbled by how well and creatively The Archers’ production team, cast and writers had risen to the challenge of working during the lockdown.

The Archers, the world’s longest-running soap opera, has been a fixture of British life since 1951. Originally “an everyday story of country folk” it now bills itself as a “contemporary drama in a rural setting”.

The show returns properly on 25 May with stories which feature David and Josh Archer, Tracy Horrobin and police officer Harrison Burns.

Howe said there would initially be far fewer characters because of the logistical complexity of what they were doing, but there were plans to bring other favourite characters into the spotlight.

He quoted David Archer, who once said: “The sun will always rise and there will always be cows to be milked. Life always goes on.” Howe promised: “So it will be in The Archers.”

Contributor

Mark Brown Arts correspondent

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
The Archers returns to Radio 4 with Ambridge under lockdown
Soap opera scraps interaction in favour of monologues recorded at actors’ homes

Mark Brown Arts correspondent

24, May, 2020 @12:39 PM

Article image
The Archers: why June Spencer was the Queen of Ambridge
The actor, who plays Peggy, appeared in the very first episode of the Radio 4 soap in 1951

Charlotte Higgins

08, Aug, 2022 @1:00 PM

Article image
Archers addict Camilla makes Ambridge cameo
Duchess of Cornwall to play herself in episode of Radio 4 soap, with village still reeling from death of Nigel Pargetter

Caroline Davies

02, Feb, 2011 @7:29 PM

Article image
Archers patriarch Norman Painting dies

Voice of Phil Archer was still in Ambridge action last month, even as a heart condition compounded his fight against bladder cancer

Martin Wainwright

29, Oct, 2009 @6:59 PM

Article image
The Archers: 65th anniversary show milks suspense from a cow crisis
Writers had hinted at a shock plot twist but the BBC Radio 4 stalwart marked its birthday with a dramatic discussion of dairy farming

Mark Lawson

01, Jan, 2016 @9:04 PM

Article image
Charlotte Higgins on The Archers: the empress of Borsetshire has left the building!
It’s not even Christmas and the troubled Archer family are imploding. Jill has hurled her flapjacks and departed in protest at Ben’s condomless foolishness

Charlotte Higgins

06, Dec, 2022 @6:00 AM

Article image
Sensitive Archers plot wins plaudits

A long running storyline in the Archers radio soap has been commended for its sensitivity and accuracy by the Alzheimer's Society. By Chris Arnot

Chris Arnot

29, Oct, 2008 @12:01 AM

Article image
GP reveals his 30-year secret life as Archers character Robert Snell
For 30 years Graham Blockey, voice behind Lynda Snell’s husband in Radio 4 soap, doubled up as full-time doctor in Surrey

Matthew Weaver

31, Mar, 2017 @3:51 PM

Article image
Give us credits, actor June Spencer urges The Archers
Last original cast member says actors should be acknowledged along with writer and editor

Patrick Greenfield

06, Feb, 2018 @6:00 AM

Article image
Modern slavery in The Archers: how credible is its latest shocking plotline?
When Ambridge builder Philip Moss turned out to be a gangmaster – employing homeless Britons as unpaid workers – some thought it a plot twist too far. But the radio soap had done its homework

Amelia Gentleman

31, Jan, 2021 @3:00 PM