please empty your brain below
Brilliant!

Point for discussion (as I'm sure there are other listeners reading): I'm fairly sure I heard Will in an episode in the last 3 or 4 weeks.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 7:44 a.m. | #

Having checked recent omnibus episode cast lists, Will last appeared the week before Christmas.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 7:53 a.m. | #

I have a vague collection of briefly hearing Will. I think a few minutes are cut from regular episodes to make the omnibus so maybe he didn’t make the cut.

Al | 02.05.20 - 8:11 a.m. | #

Your readers are accustomed to niche, but this is spectacularly uber-niche!

Frank F | 02.05.20 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Why can't episodes be recorded from the actors' homes and spliced together? I know getting the interactions to sound right would be challenging, but these are supposed to be professional actors.

Malcolm | 02.05.20 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Agreeing with Al that bits are regularly cut for the Omnibus. I think it was Will and another male voice or voices.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 8:30 a.m. | #

Last I heard about future production was what Malcolm said. Did they try it and find it didn't work?

Or did the script writers decide to go from 'cononavirus free' to lockdown overnight would be too hard to do?

Blue Witch | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Well for one thing, unless the actors have some sort of studio setup in their homes, there'd be a lot of echo and noise (different for each actor as well)

anonymous | 02.05.20 - 8:42 a.m. | #

The actors have been setting-up some sort of studio setup in their homes to reduce echo and noise. See here.

Further Archers-recording news here.

Having listened to every daily episode this year (with the specific ongoing task of character identification), Will has not appeared, honest.

It's exceptionally rare for characters to appear in only one scene in a single episode.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I listened to The Archers when it first started and continues listening until the mid 1990's then lost interest as a lot of my favorite characters were no longer in the series.

I hope they find a way to start the recordings again it would a shame to lose such a long running radio show.

John | 02.05.20 - 8:48 a.m. | #

There is a monthly character count here:
dumteedum.com
Has DG given away his identity as Mike Hatton?
And of course we should mention Cathy Perks as a silent character. Silent as she has been held captive in the boiler room at Gay Grables.

SAM
Ryde
IoW

SAM | 02.05.20 - 9:01 a.m. | #

I have just discovered the 4 weddings and a funeral episodes to be broadcast next week.

Don't click the link unless you want to know (although fairly predictable):
ambridgereporter.org.uk/2697

Blue Witch | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 9:10 a.m. | #

Thanks for the dumteedum link, Sam.

They also counted character appearances during 2019, when the Top 10 was...
• Tom
• Clarrie
• Emma, Jim, Will
• Elizabeth
• David, Eddie
• Ed, Shula

That's a Grundy full house.

Previous top characters...
2018: Jennifer
2017: Lillian
2016: Helen
2015: David

(and I needn't bother counting for the rest of 2020 because they will)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 9:33 a.m. | #

Helen's other son Jack is missing from the Bridge Farm list.

dg writes: As a 3 year-old, Jack has yet to speak.

Man of Kent | 02.05.20 - 9:34 a.m. | #

Rosie was gurgling away in the playground earlier this week.

Shieldsman | 02.05.20 - 9:41 a.m. | #

I beleive that every episode has a two minute chunk which can be cut without affecting the story-line. It's for the omnibus edition, and to make space for commercials when sold abroad. 'Spot the chunk' adds interest, when the plot palls.

mikeS | 02.05.20 - 9:50 a.m. | #

I'm afraid I lost interest in The Archers when Walter (and Nelson) Gabriel kicked the bucket.

jack hopkins | 02.05.20 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Perhaps now is the opportunity to replace the Archers and bring back the programme it replaced, Dick Barton - Special Agent. Remember the tune... very annoyed that the Archers came and knocked it off the wireless.

Yes, I stopped listening to the Armchairs way back when it lost its country ways.

Herbof | 02.05.20 - 10:02 a.m. | #

There seems be a lot of Archers fans frequenting DG's blog... I can honestly say that I have never ever listened to a single episode. Most definitely a niche topic.

davews | 02.05.20 - 10:16 a.m. | #

I seem to remember another short
(and not very interesting)
series BETWEEN 'Dick Barton Special Agent' and 'The Archers' ?

dg writes: No.

prp | 02.05.20 - 10:16 a.m. | #

Come on, DG.
Do you remember Mrs Dale's Diary? That's the series where the male lead, Dr Dale, always called his mother in law "Mother In Law". Imagine that today:
"Good morning, Mother In Law. How're doin durin lock-darn, then?“
Hmmm. I think not!

John Butcher | 02.05.20 - 10:26 a.m. | #

Great to read this; I'm already missing the Archers. But Tracy is Susan's sister and therefore Emma's aunt. (Sorry for the pedantry)

dg writes: Updated, thanks.

gp | 02.05.20 - 10:27 a.m. | #

About 4½ million people listen to The Archers (roughly 8% of the UK's adult population).

It's nowhere near as niche as much of the stuff I write about.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.05.20 - 10:41 a.m. | #

No appetite for a niche-off, but how many of the 8% will have also kept a tally of character appearances?

I feel I ought to do something similar and am considering recording appearances by newsreaders and BBC staffers on The Six O'Clock News.

Frank F | 02.05.20 - 10:52 a.m. | #

Bring back Waggoners' Walk (and Westway)!

John Styles | 02.05.20 - 11:04 a.m. | #

I never had dg down as an Archers listener. I think if you grow up in a house where your Mum had it on every lunchtime it just becomes part of everyday life.

You may be interested in this delve into the Archers, complete with old editions to listen to, published yesterday to mark the pause.

ap | 02.05.20 - 11:37 a.m. | #

The only thing I know about The Archers is the signature tune; and that Jeffrey was sentenced to 4 years in prison for perjury.

Richard | 02.05.20 - 11:53 a.m. | #

Apart from a brief spell of being hooked on Eastenders and Neighbours in the 80s/90s I've not got into soaps in either format!

Unlike the TV soaps where you can't help but learning some of the character's names/plots the Archers remains a complete mystery to me!

Will happily watch Countryfile though!

Cornish Cockney | 02.05.20 - 12:00 p.m. | #

I'm one of the c.92%.

B | 02.05.20 - 12:21 p.m. | #

Do people watch the soaps and listen to the Archers because they can't cope with life or because they can?

Tones | 02.05.20 - 1:02 p.m. | #

I grew up in a household that listened to Dick Barton, Special Agent and then The Archers. I left the UK in 1974 and haven't heard it since so it's nice to know the series is still running, although temporally on hold.

The best recollection of it however is the Tony Hancock parody of Walter Gabriel which reflected the public's feeling for the show.

BRIAN BERKE | 02.05.20 - 5:35 p.m. | #

Frank F at 8.17am: "spectacularly uber-niche!" What a superb comment - made me laugh out loud.

Great Aunt Annie | 02.05.20 - 10:55 p.m. | #

Had rule in my office as Dean of Students at the school of Medicine in Louisiana, if any of my students came to see me between 1:04 and 1:15 Central time, they had to listen t the Archers with me and I insisted that I would explain every story line.

Mark | 03.05.20 - 4:35 a.m. | #

dg, paragraph 3 of your comment at 8.47am yesterday brilliantly explains what the invisible Will was doing to keep up with the storyline.

Ian | 03.05.20 - 8:23 a.m. | #

Not having listened to the Archers for decades it was nice to be still able to recogonise quite a few characters.

sid | 03.05.20 - 9:21 a.m. | #

I'm sorry you received such rotten feedback on this post.

As one of the 8%, I loved it.

I was a regular listener when I became hooked on Radio 4 at university.

I then had about 10 years off until a few years ago when I discovered the podcast version. There is something really quite nice about a bite-sized soap that you can listen to when commuting.

Fredbert Gotrangle | 03.05.20 - 5:16 p.m. | #

Always preferred the Bowmans myself.

Ned | 03.05.20 - 10:02 p.m. | #

How nice to find out you're an Archers listener DG.......don't know why I'm surprised but there you go.

NiC | Homepage | 04.05.20 - 7:00 a.m. | #

Thanks for your excellent work. I've uploaded a link to your page on the Archers Usenet page at uk.media.radio.archers

Marmaduke Jinks | 04.05.20 - 11:47 p.m. | #











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