The Archers
How is Arnold Wesker’s Roots, which resembles an Archers episode, considered a classic?
The Almeida wants to examine the ‘Angry Young Man’ phenomenon of the 1950s but the term ‘man’ seems to create…
The art of the monologue
If you’ve been listening to The Archers lately, you’ll know how tedious monologues can be. The BBC has received so…
Without Joe Grundy The Archers feels lost
There was something really creepy about listening to the ten-minute countryside podcast released last weekend by Radio 4 supposedly transporting…
Will you last beyond the madeleine? Radio 4’s In Search of Lost Time reviewed
The madeleine upon which Proust’s seven-volume epic In Search of Lost Time pivots makes its significant appearance after just 18…
The attempt to bring back topicality to Ambridge has been far too effective
It’s becoming clear that the travails afflicting all the major players in The Archers, Radio 4’s flagship drama, are intended…
Is Michelle Obama a secret Archers fan?
I wonder what Michelle Obama, the former First Lady who remade that role in her own image, would make of…
What are the writers of The Archers trying to achieve with the Freddie Pargetter story?
‘I’m not here to rehabilitate,’ says Pamela, who teaches creative writing to prisoners in Northern Ireland. She doesn’t think of…
‘Sorted’ has always had connotations of menace
My heart leapt up on Newport station, an unusual place for that to happen, when I heard a recorded announcement:…
Separation anxiety
As Europe remembers Passchendaele, India and Pakistan recall Partition, just 70 years ago, when Britain so hastily abandoned its Indian…
Intolerable cruelty
It was a toss-up on Sunday between the atmosphere in the Radio Five Live Sports Extra studio in Kolkata for…
Save our Helen!
Archers listeners are so obsessed with the soap’s domestic abuse storyline that they have set up a real-life charity appeal
The big reveal
Much ado about Radio 4’s latest venture into the new smart world of aural selfies. Reaction Time, on Thursday mornings,…
Tales of the unexpected
Two significant anniversaries, each very different but both reflecting the BBC’s mission and the reasons for its continued success. From…
Keeping the faith
There was no shortage of Easter music and talks across the BBC networks with a sunrise service on Radio 4…
Talking books
If ever I found myself at a pretentious literary party obliged to play David Lodge’s ‘Humiliation’ game and to confess…
Passage to India
After a month cooped up in a Scottish castle, no internet, no TV, and no radio, watching hectic snowflakes billowing…
Serial killer
The fuss may now be over, the last episode of Serial revealed. But if the global success of WBEZ Chicago’s…
Is Test cricket heading for its last innings?
Lions and weasels The Archers and Test cricket: words you rarely find in the same sentence and more’s the pity…
Comforting sounds to cook to
When you think about it, Radio 4 is mostly a pile of old toss. Money Box qualifies as an anaesthetic,…
Toenails and tadpoles
‘I don’t know what I think,’ says Lenny Henry, echoing what many of us who were listening were probably also…
Oh! Carol
‘Isn’t that charming!’ Carol declares at the height of the great Home Farm cocktail party, after being subjected to Jennifer’s…
Dumped by Tom
Did you hear those bloodcurdling screams from Kirsty? Those long-drawn-out wails that echoed horrifically through the ancient walls of St…
Easter thoughts
Given the decline of Christian belief in the UK, it’s surprising to discover there’s quite so much about the Easter…
Strong-minded women
You might think the main storyline in The Archers is all about Helen’s affair with dastardly Rob. (What does she…
Old friends
Mention of the 70th anniversary of Composer of the Week brings to mind a distinguished list of long-running programmes on…
