SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In the early 1970s, Steven Spielberg asked Tom Stoppard to write a screenplay for the movie "Jaws." The great playwright said no, he was busy writing a play for the BBC. You'd turn down a Hollywood blockbuster for BBC TV? Spielberg is said to have asked. And, no, Stoppard corrected him, it's BBC Radio. Radio dramas are huge in Britain. The most famous and perhaps most beloved is "The Archers," a daily soap opera, about farmers in a fictional village called Ambridge. The show began in 1951 and celebrates its 75th anniversary next month. NPR's London correspondent Lauren Frayer created this tribute to the world of the Archers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIDNEY TORCH'S "BARWICK GREEN")
DIANE MYCOCK: They started in '51, and I was born in '52. My name's Diane Mycock (ph), and like the Archers, I too live in a farming village. Some of my very early memories are listening to "The Archers" with my mother.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Well, milk, meat and flour are all going up in price.
TIM VERCELLOTTI: After World War II, there were still tremendous food shortages in Britain.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I wonder if the farmers are going to get anything out of that increase.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Yeah. I don't know.
VERCELLOTTI: I'm Tim Vercellotti, professor at Western New England University. I study "The Archers" and I teach a course that includes "The Archers."
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) What it will do is make the public realize just what it costs to go and produce this stuff.
VERCELLOTTI: They were looking for ways to help farmers to increase their productivity and yield. And they knew that dry instructions from the Ministry of Agriculture wouldn't be nearly as effective. It was the drama that would pull people in.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
NORMAN PAINTING: (As Phil Archer) Grace. Grace, come back. The roof's collapsing.
VERCELLOTTI: One of the famous episodes from the 1950s was the death of Grace Archer, who was killed in a stable fire.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
PAINTING: (As Phil Archer) Look at that roof.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROOF CAVING IN)
PAINTING: (As Phil Archer) It's caving.
JANET HAINES: My name is Janet Haines (ph), and I live near Reading in Berkshire. My mum was in the garden when our neighbor rushed out from her house, crying and saying, she's dead. She's dead.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
PAINTING: (As Phil Archer) Grace is in there. Let me go, blasted, John (ph).
HAINES: She was surprised to hear that it was the death of a character on the radio that had caused Mrs. Evans (ph) to be so upset.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
PAINTING: (As Phil Archer) Grace. Grace. Oh, my God, Grace.
VERCELLOTTI: You feel a connection to these folks that you might not feel if you were absorbing a story on television or film or in the theater.
MADDIE BINKS: I try to work out who would be my friend. Hi, my name is Maddie Binks (ph). If I lived in Ambridge, who would I be friends with?
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
JACKIE LYE: (As Joy Horville) Kirsty. Hiya. Kirsty.
BINKS: Would it be Kirsty?
ANNABELLE DOWLER: (As Kirsty Miller) Oh, sorry, Joy. I didn't see you there.
LYE: (As Joy Horville) Oh, you look how I feel.
BINKS: Is she a bit...
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
LYE: (As Joy Horville) Is everything OK?
BINKS: ...Dippy?
VERCELLOTTI: So Ambridge is the fictional village, home of the great Church of England Gothic Cathedral - also fictional. It's all been mapped by the fans.
PAUL CARMICHAEL: Everything is so clear in my mind's eye. I know what the church, St. Stephen's, looks like and what The Bull, the pub, looks like. My name is Paul Carmichael (ph), and I know what these characters look like. It's quite a shock sometimes when you see the actor who plays them, and you think, well, that's not what they look like at all.
SUSIE RIDDELL: I don't actually speak like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
RIDDELL: (As Tracy Horrobin) Oh, trick question.
Hi. I'm Susie Riddell, and I play Tracy Horrobin in "The Archers." Tracy Horrobin speaks a bit more like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
RIDDELL: (As Tracy Horrobin) I was just going to say about last night.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Aye, me, ya know.
RIDDELL: (As Tracy Horrobin) You know that kiss didn't mean nothing, don't you?
I'm quite skilled. I can snog someone from 3 meters away (laughter) 'cause you don't actually kiss each other on radio anyway. You kiss your hand - it gives a better sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
RIDDELL: (As Tracy Horrobin) (Vocalizing). That was worth waiting for. In fact (vocalizing).
As Tracy, I had a huge storyline about poverty, losing a job and having two kids to take care of and an elderly father. And Tracy eventually went to a food bank. The normalization of that was so nice.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
FELICITY FINCH: (As Ruth Archer, crying) It's only 7, Josh (ph).
TERESA HOLMES: The storylines through the years constantly reflect many of society's issues. I'm Teresa Holmes (ph). I'm 71, and I'm living in a suburb of Kansas City. GMOs, civil partnerships, breast cancer.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
FINCH: (As Ruth Archer, crying) But it's cancer.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Yeah, which most people survive. It's what the doctor said.
FINCH: (As Ruth Archer, crying) No.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Yes, she did.
EDMUND ZEBROWSKI: A few years ago, my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My name is Edmund Zebrowski, and I am just outside of Chicago, here in the Midwest. I drove him to treatments every day. It was cold and it was a gloomy winter, and I ended up introducing him to the show through one of those drives, and it became a bit of a comfort.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) You're going to beat it, Ruth. We're going to beat it.
ZEBROWSKI: Sometimes the stories will echo our own lives. Sometimes they brush up against them from an unexpected angle.
DAISY STEELE: Hello, my name's Daisy Steele (ph), and I'm based in Somerset, in the west of England.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Is Ben all right? Did he sleep better?
STEELE: I found myself pregnant at the same time as Ruth Archer. And when she had Ben, I also had a son that year, who we called Ben.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
FINCH: (As Ruth Archer) Oh, there's Ben started. I'll have to go.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) OK. Bye then.
HOLMES: Inheritance tax, modern slavery. Ooh, that was a good one. Mental health, and, of course, coercive control. I found that 2 1/2-yearlong storyline fascinating.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
LOUIZA PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener). Helen. I'm Helen. This is probably in my head.
LIZZY NAZER: So I don't know if you're familiar with the Rob and Helen storyline. It's one of the most famous storylines on "The Arches," and it's to do with coercive control and domestic abuse relationships. Unfortunately, at the same time, I had my own person who was very much like Rob - very controlling. He was a lot more violent.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) You see, my husband. He's...
TIMOTHY WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) Badly done, Helen.
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) I can't explain exactly what he does. He...
WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) Disappointed in you.
NAZER: I'm Elizabeth. I also go by Lizzy, Lizzy Nazer (ph). I am based in London, where I live with my two daughters.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) Get your hands off him. Don't touch him.
WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) (Vocalizing).
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) (Vocalizing). I - sorry.
WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) Helen.
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) Sorry.
WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) Put the knife down. Helen.
PATIKAS: (As Helen Titchener) (Vocalizing).
WATSON: (As Rob Titchener) Oh, no. (Vocalizing).
(SOUNDBITE OF CLATTERING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As Henry) Mummy.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLATTERING)
NAZER: He didn't actually like me listening to the radio, so I had to start trying to listen to "The Archers" in secret.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) It's all right, Helen. You're being really brave. Just picking up the phone is a huge step.
NAZER: Interestingly, now I work with domestic abuse survivors, you know, real-life Helens. And when I was training, clips of "The Archers," of the Helen and Rob kind of dialogue, were actually part of the training.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) It's not your fault, Helen.
NAZER: It's always been very close to my heart. And the idea of art really kind of educating people in really important ways.
VERCELLOTTI: This is Tim Vercellotti. I'm the professor teaches a course on The Archers.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED RADIO HOST: You're listening to The Archers Omnibus from BBC Radio 4.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIDNEY TORCH'S "BARWICK GREEN")
VERCELLOTTI: As the BBC increased its online presence in the early 2000s, it was first possible to listen to it live anywhere.
BINKS: Part of being a sailing instructor, you have to do a lot of miles on a lot of yachts. And the best thing about that is the night watches in the middle of the ocean with nothing for miles around but the sky. You need something to while the time.
VERCELLOTTI: And then the daily episodes and the Sunday omnibus are packaged as podcasts now.
BINKS: So I binged about three years of "The Archers" in six weeks.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
RICHARD ATTLEE: (As Kenton Archer) And like any family, we're not perfect. We might even get on each other's nerves occasionally.
ZEBROWSKI: Hello again. This is Edmund from Chicago. My husband made it through his rounds of chemo like a champ.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE ARCHERS")
ATTLEE: (As Kenton Archer) With all its odd little ways and eccentric personalities - you know who you are...
(LAUGHTER)
ATTLEE: (As Kenton Archer) ...Ambridge is always there and always will be.
ZEBROWSKI: As we head towards the 75th anniversary of "The Archers," I keep finding it funny to think of how something that was once, like, so small has become such an anchor in our lives.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIDNEY TORCH'S "BARWICK GREEN")
ANDY OLCOTT: (Vocalizing). This is Andy Olcott (ph) from Glenview, Illinois. My wife and I listen to podcasts in bed before falling asleep. She hasn't listened as long as I have, so sometimes we pause the podcast, and I'll explain who was talking, maybe their relationships or the backstory.
SHEILA PENNELL: You need to know my full name? Sheila Pennell (ph). I'm from Birmingham, as you can probably tell by the accent. I was 4 years old when "The Archers" started.
ZEBROWSKI: Simply hearing this story told well over time can be quite healing. I'm deeply grateful for it.
PENNELL: And now I'm nearly 80. It's all been wonderful. I love "The Archers." And may I hear that "Archers" theme tune (vocalizing) until I take my last breath. Long live "The Archers."
(SOUNDBITE OF SIDNEY TORCH'S "BARWICK GREEN")
SIMON: Long live, indeed. That piece was created by NPR's London correspondent Lauren Frayer with help from producer Samantha Balaban and Fatima Al-Kassab. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
