Tumty tumty tumty tum, tumty tumty tum tum… That iconic tune can’t help but whisk us to Ambridge, where trouble with tractors or how much muck is on David Archer’s boots transports us away from our worries for 13 minutes of pure escapism every weekday night on Radio 4, just as it has been doing for the past 70 years.
It was back in 1948 when the nation was still in the grips of post-war rationing and shortages when Godfrey Baseley, producer of agricultural programmes for the BBC Midlands Region, sat down to a farmer’s dinner in Birmingham.
As one farmer leaned in to chat, he suggested to Godfrey that there should be a regular radio serial, similar to the popular radio thriller Dick Barton Special Agent, but concerning rural affairs; with a fictional storyline but keeping farmers up to date with the latest agricultural methods.
Within two years the daily audience had risen to nine million listeners
Godfrey liked the idea and over the next two years developed a programme about a traditional farming family.
After an initial broadcast in the Midlands region, on January 1, 1951 the programme went national and The Archers was born.
Within three months, it was such a hit that the show was moved to the primetime 6.45pm slot, ousting poor old Dick Barton who had inspired the show in the first place. Within two years the daily audience following the lives of Dan and Doris Archer and their neighbours had risen to nine million listeners. The show even managed to thwart the launch night of the ITV channel in 1955 – entirely by sheer coincidence the producers always insisted – when Grace Archer, young wife of Phil, was killed in a stable fire that very night, ensuring 20 million listeners tuned in and newspaper headlines talked of little else.
Although the initial purpose of the show was educational, even from the very beginning it was also about what Godfrey Baseley himself called ‘real life overheard’. In and among the every day dramas, The Archers has always held up a mirror to what’s going on beyond Ambridge. So whether it’s foot and mouth disease or the advent of women vicars, the death of a royal or a national election, if it’s happening in the real world, chances are it’s happening in The Archers too, so much so that the storylines sometimes seem all too real.
In 1967 when 16-year-old Jennifer Aldridge had an illegitimate child by Paddy the cowman, listeners became so involved in the story someone even wrote on Waterloo Bridge ‘Doris Archer’ – Jennifer’s grandmother – ‘is a prude’. Meanwhile in 2015 when Lynda Snell’s beloved dog Scruff disappeared in the Ambridge floods, listeners were so concerned a petition was started online to ensure his safe return.
The realism of The Archers even helped raise awareness and funds for those facing domestic violence. When in 2016 Helen Titchener went on trial for stabbing her husband Rob after he subjected her to a sustained campaign of coercive control and abuse, thousands of people contacted BBC Action Line to request help, while a fundraising page set up by an Archers fan raised £150,000 for a domestic violence charity.
When Lynda’s dog went missing, listeners started a petition for his safe return
With such a loyal fanbase, though, listeners rarely shy away from making it clear if they’re not happy with what they hear. On the 60th anniversary of the show when scriptwriters decided to send popular Nigel Pargetter falling to his death from the roof of Lower Loxley, fans were outraged and wrote in to complain in their droves – adding to the regular complaint letters about sex scenes and noisy eating!
Among the fans of The Archers have always been many famous faces, some of whom have even joined the show for a guest appearance, including Dame Edna Everage, Alan Titchmarsh, Princess Margaret and Sir Terry Wogan.
Now celebrating its 70th year, The Archers has just faced one of its toughest challenges yet, when the coronavirus pandemic meant that last March, they had to throw away weeks’ worth of scripts and tell the story in a totally new way so actors could record from their homes, all while introducing lockdown to Ambridge.
Just as so many times in the past, real life was reflected back in the show all while continuing to bring us that endless comfort and escapism that has kept us tuning in for 70 years. Long may it continue!
Did you know…?
June Spencer who plays Peggy Woolley has been in the show since the first episode and is still involved at the age of 101
When a major news event breaks, The Archers scriptwriters often rewrite scenes for two actors to record just hours before the episode broadcasts
The very first episodes of The Archers were recorded in a single take and cut straight onto gramophone discs meaning if an actor made a mistake, the whole show had to be recorded from the start again
To recreate the sound of a lamb being born, the sound effects person squelches yogurt before dropping a wet towel onto a bed of old recording tape... Another recording trick to recreate the sound of a farm gate closing is to swiftly collapse an ironing board !
The Archers is broadcast every weekday at 7pm on Radio 4