The Archers was also a film production company responsible for many classic British films in the 1940s and '50s.

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The Archers is the world's longest running radio soap opera, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 twice a day except on Saturday; the Sunday morning broadcast being an omnibus of the previous six days episodes. Despite its rural flavour, it is actually recorded in the heart of Birmingham in England.

In 1950, a pilot series was broadcast to the English Midlands. Since 1 January 1951, a fifteen-minute episode has been transmitted across the UK each weekday, at first on the BBC Light Programme and subsequently on the BBC Home Service (now Radio 4). There are now six episodes a week, repeated in an "omnibus" edition on Sunday morning. Traditionally billed as an "everyday story of countryfolk", it is set in the fictional Midlands village of Ambridge close to Borchester, the county town of Borsetshire, an imaginary shire situated between the (actually contiguous) real counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire, south of Birmingham in the West Midlands. Ambridge itself is sometimes said to be based upon the village of Inkberrow in Worcestershire.

Other locations often referred to in the stories include local landmark Lakey Hill , the neighbouring village of Penny Hassett and the cathedral city of Felpersham. Its theme tune is Barwick Green, a "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath , written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood .

Originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture, it was conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the post-war years of rationing and food shortages. The programme was hugely successful; at the height of its popularity it was estimated that 60% of adult Britons were regular listeners. It also served a purpose at the time as a propaganda mechanism to reinforce notions of Englishness, and to foster and inculcate notions of rebuilding in post-war Britain.

The actor Norman Painting has played the character of Phil Archer continuously ever since the first trial series in 1950. He was also a member of the scriptwriting team at one time and wrote around 1,200 episodes under the pseudonym of "Bruno Milna". The decision by the scriptwriters to schedule an episode in which Phil's first wife, Grace , was killed in a fire on the launch day of ITV was widely seen as a "spoiling" operation by the BBC. The emotional response of listeners to news of Grace's death inspired an episode of the comedy programme Censored page on television that featured a fictional soap, The Bowmans, parodying the series.

A recurring theme over the years has been the resentment of the working-class Grundy family towards the middle-class Archers, but the series has moved inexorably with the times and now deals with a wide range of contemporary issues including illicit affairs, drug abuse, Censored page and recently rape. However one of the show's enduring charms is its ability to make absorbing stories out of everyday, small scale concerns, such as the possible closure of the village shop, rather than the large scale and rather improbable events that form the plots of many soap operas.

As the fees paid by BBC radio are lower than those normally recieved for television and radio work it has become normal on The Archers for characters to disappear for periods if they are working on other projects. As a result during any period the series comprises 20-30 speaking characters and another 70-100 non-speaking characters.

The programme editor has been Vanessa Whitburn since 1992.

Main Characters

Phil Archer is patriarch of the Archer family and a leading member of the Ambridge Village Community. His first wife Grace was killed in a fire and over four decades later has never entirely got over the trauma. His second wife Jill was trapped in a burning house in 2004 and this brought back many feelings. Phil handed responsibility for the family farm Brookfield to second son David three years ago but still remains involved in the farm's affairs. Phil has had a number of health scares in recent years but is still a keen pianist and plays organ for church services and the music for the annual village christmas play. His sister is Christine Barford.

Jill Archer is the second wife of Phil Archer and matriarch of the family. Some ten years younger than her husband she is more active in village life and makes herself available to support her children with caring for their families. Jill is an active member of the Women's Institiute, opened up a holiday cottage business and is teaching her grand-daugher Pip how to raise Bees.

Shula Archer is the oldest daughter of Phil and Jill and twin sister of Kenton. Her first husband was killed in a road accident that also involved her best friend Caroline Pemberton nee Bone. Her son Daniel was born after the death of his father. Despite being a devout Christian and a member of the local Parochial Church Council Shula had an affair with the village doctor. Shula has been married for five years to the village vet and now runs a horse stables. Her character has a tendency to be condescending that is often criticised by family.

Kenton Archer is portrayed as the 'waster' of the Archer family. Having turned his back on the farm Kenton tried his hand at a number of ventures including selling Antiques and a Wine Bar. Kenton disappeared to Australia and New Zealand for several years and was married, had a child and divorced before returning home. Most recently Kenton has been working as the manager of a cafe in Felpersham owned by his uncle Jack Wooley.

David Archer is the second son of Phil and Jill and has assumed responsibility for Brookfield. The farm has suffered in recent years from a cattle herd periodically infected by TB which has led David to question his wisdom in staying in farming. David is married to Ruth who has suffered from a returning breast cancer. They have three children.

Elizabeth Archer is the youngest daughter and along with Kenton rejected village life attempting a career in publicity in London. She returned to Ambridge but endured a disasterous relationship with a local business man before snaring the owner of a local manor house Lower Locksley. They have twins and attempt to develop the house as a conference venue. Elizabeth is highly critical of the way David manages the Brookfield estate.

Peggy Archer,the widow of Jack Archer (the slightly disreputable brother of Phil Archer), is married to local grandee Jack Wooley a self made man who owns a local hotel, the village shop and the area's newspaper. Peggy has two daughters by her first husband Jennifer and Lillian, and a son Tony, and is indulgent of her grandchildren. Jack has started to suffer from early stages of Alzheimers leading Peggy to take more responsibility for the day to day operations of his businesses. Peggy is the former owner of "The Bull".

Jennifer Archer is oldest daughter of Peggy Archer. Early on her character was the Hippy of the Archer her oldest child Adam being the result of a fling. She married a travelling businessman in the late sixties and had a daughter Debbie. She then divorced and married Brian Aldridge who has become a major character. With Brian she had two daughters Kate and Alice. Kate inherited her mother's hippy tendency giving birth to a daughter Phoebe by a local piece of rough Roy Tucker before disappearing to South Africa. Jennifer has had to endure Brian having a series of affairs including one which has produced a child.

The Grundy are a well established local family and provide comic relief. Joe Grundy maintained for many years that the Archer family had robbed tham of their estate. After years attempting to maintain the family farm in 2000 they were made bankrupt and ended up living in a caravan. They now have a house in the village and a small holding. Joe's son Eddie and his wife Clarrie are contrasting character as are their two sons. The elder William has become a Game Keeper and married the social climbing Emma Carter. What has yet to be revealed is that Emma had an affair with William's younger brother and now carries there child.

See also: Mrs Dale's Diary

Overseas Parallels

In 1994, the BBC World Service in Afghanistan began broadcasting Naway Kor, Naway Jwand ("New Home, New Life"), an everyday story of countryfolk with built-in bits of useful information. Although the useful information was more likely to concern unexploded landmines than the latest modern farming techniques, the inspiration and model of Naway Kor, Naway Jwand was essentially The Archers.[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,579231,00.html

In Rwanda, the BBC World Service's Kinyarwanda-Kirundi service has been broadcasting the Archers-inspired soap opera Urunana since 1999.[2] http://www.developments.org.uk/data/Issue24/country-life.htm

The Archers was also the model for the Russian radio soap opera Dom 7, Podyezd 4 .[3] http://www.internews.ru/media_developments/eng/issue_12/12_0e.html

External links

• The Archers http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers (official BBC site)
• Archers Addicts http://www.thearchers.co.uk (BBC-approved fan club)
• Archers Anarchists http://www.archersanarchists.co.uk ("anti-castist" BBC-free fan club)
• uk.media.radio.archers, the Archers newsgroup: locally news:uk.media.radio.archers or via Google http://groups.google.com/groups?group=uk.media.radio.archers