The Archers: the true story: the history of radio’s most famous programme

260 Pages·1997·27.2 MB·English

by  William Smethurst

The Archers is the longest-running radio serial

in the world and certainly the best-loved. How
did it start? Whose idea was it? How did it
achieve its pre-eminent place on British radio?
Its first trial episodes were heard on the Mid­
land Home Service in 1950 but, appropriately
for a mighty oak, its seed had been long in ger­
mination. In this definitive account of how the
programme was born and how it evolved
William Smethurst, who for eleven years was
first writer and then editor of The Archers, has

delved deep to write a book no Archers' fan

should be without.
Smethurst reveals the behind-the-scenes dra­
mas that listeners never heard, and the truth
behind many rumours and legends which
have long puzzled Archers' addicts. What was

the realreason why Grace Archer was killed in

1955? What happened to Doris Archer’s secret
sister? Why did radio chiefs complain about
Dan Archer’s ‘indelicacies’? What was the plot
that nearly killed Peggy Archer? Why was Prin­
cess Margaret unhappy at Grey Gables ... ?
Over forty-five years The Archers has present­

ed ‘an everyday story of country folk’ attempt­
ing to reflect the reality of farming life through
characters whom we get to know as intimately
as members of our own family. This is the
story of how that was achieved. Unauthorized
by the BBC, William Smethurst’s detailed re­
search and many interviews with those who
have worked on The Archers has enabled him

to write a highly entertaining ‘insider’s’ story
of a broadcasting phenomenon.
is illustrated
The Archers: The True Story
throughout and includes historic photographs
specially taken by Picture Post's star photogra­

pher Bert Hardy in 1950, most of which have
not been reproduced in book form before.
16.99
£
T H E T R U E S T O R Y
above: ‘Thank Goodness for Eddie Grundy,’ said the Evening Standard in January 1996. ‘Life in
Ambridge, fictional home of the Archers may seem to be all sex, drugs and parish strife at present,
but at least things never change for the lovable rogue from Grange Farm . . .’The programme
celebrated its forty-fifth anniversary with a whisky and temazepam overdose for Kate Aldridge.
Press Association: Rebecca Naden
below: Recording in Studio 2, Broad Street, Birmingham, in the early Fifties.
Norman Painting (Phil Archer), Pamela Mant (Christine) and Harry Oakes (Dan).
Camera Press: Tom Blau
'he Archer
T H E T R U E S T O R Y
The History ofR adios Most Famous Programme
William Smethurst
Colour
Library
20248
This edition published 1997 by Colour Library Direct
First published in Great Britain in 1996 by
Michael O’Mara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard,Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ
Copyright © 1996 by William Smethurst
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, without the prior permission
in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without
a similar condition including this condition being imposed
on the subsequent purchaser.
The right of William Smethurst to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
isbn 1-85833-620-1
Designed and typeset by Martin Bristow
Printed and bound by The Bath Press, Bath
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My grateful thanks go to Godfrey Baseley, who kindly allowed
me to reproduce excerpts from the original character notes of
The Archers written by him in 1949. My thanks also go to those
members of the cast and production team, both past and present,
who allowed me to see cuttings and photographs that they have
collected over the years, and shared with me their memories of the
programme.
DEDICATIO N
To Jock Gallagher, who saved the programme from being axed in
the early Seventies, and whose support for me during my time as
editor was unswerving.

Contents
A PROGRAMME ON WHICH THE SUN NEVER SETS 9
1 A Farming Dick Barton 11
2 A Three-Month Run 20
3 In the Shadow of The Dales 25
4 Success! 30
5 ‘G’d evenin’ all’ 35
6 Romance of the Decade 44
7 Fame 50
8 ‘Dead Girls Tell No Tales’ 55
9 Britain’s Secret Weapon 65
xo The End of the Fifties 71
11 Television, Pigs and Percy Thrower 77
12 Round the Twist 83
13 Another Death 89
14 A Challenge from the Motel 95
1966
15 : The Swinging Year 100
16 Jennifer’s Baby 105
17 End of the Sixties hi
18 Kidnapped! 116
123
19 The Fall of Brigadier Winstanley
20 The New Men 129
21 The Deep Snooze 136
22 A New Ambridge 143
23 Sex for Shula 148
24 Farewell to Tony Shryane 155
25 More New Men 161
26 The End of the Seventies 166
27 The Union that Wouldn’t Let Doris Die 171
28 Ambridge in Liverpool 178
29 Of Polly, Pinky and a Pargetter 185
30 The Princess and the Duke 190
31 The Rise of the House of Grundy 196
32 Wedding of the Year 202
33 Goodbye, Dan 211
34 The New Woman 217
35 Storms ... 220
36 ... and Disasters 226
37 The End of the Eighties 231
38 Goodbye, Captain 237
39 Another New Team 242
appendix: Selling the Archers 249
Index 254