As an avid radio listener all my life, I have flirted with this long running programme for many years. However in the last few months I have finally succumbed and now the Sunday omnibus is my entertainment highlight of the week.
Is it because I am fast approaching 50? Is it because so much TV simply doesn't appeal to me? Or is it just because I'm a bit sad?
The Archers is not the cosy little harmless thing it was 25 years ago, it has had it's racy moments and has tackled some controversial issues in recent years.
Is it just me on Charlton Life that likes to let himself drift off on a Sunday into another world or are there plenty of Ambridge Addicts on here who just needed someone like me to come out?
Please no spoilers! I only listen on Sundays. But I would not shed a tear over Darrell's dimise if that is the case....
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What do I win?
That said, there are two programmes that I just can't stick. The terribly patronising snapshot for the permanently muddled; Thought for the Day and the record breaking borefest; The Archers. This dreadful show is so tedious and uninspiring. It has no place on that great station being neither entertaining nor informative. It's nothing but a audio diarrhoea for those that can't stand the cut and thrust pace of Little House on the Prairie. It should be sold of to ITV Digital, that's its level. The only good thing about The Archers (midweek at least) is that you know that it won't be long until Mark Lawson is on.
Radio 4 Rules (other than Thought for the Day and the Archers)
Brilliant were they.
When I was a young lad at my grandmother's house quarter to seven on the Home Service (or was it the Light programme thinking about it) was always Archers time. Sometimes on Sunday morning the omnibus wwould be on and at the start Tom Forrest would pontificate about something or other rather like dear old Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green.
Like you I've flirted with it over the years and recall highlights such as Shula losing her virginity to Simon Parker, a sleazy journo on the Borchester Echo, and more recently Sid and Jolene in the shower.
I heard the episode where Darrell was found outside the houses on the Green and Shula was blaming herself but didn't realise he had actually snuffed it. These days it's conveniently timed for my journey home if I leave work as early as seven so I catch the odd episode perhaps one or two a week.
It's strangely soothing .
I'm a confirmed Archers addict - been listening since I was 8 (I'm now 53). People often grumble that it's not what it was or the new editor has ruined it but I've rolled with the changes and can't imagine Sunday morning without it.
Forget the official BBC Archers fan club, and join the Archers Anarchists. We are committed to exposing all the absurdities: in our ranks is an expert ornithologist who listens intently to the background sounds and spots the wrong birdsong for the time of year. What happened to the Disappeared - those residents who have voluble speaking parts but suddenly fall silent, forgotten? Why does Tom Archer, Ambridge born and bred, have a Lancashire accent? Why has Clarrie Grundy's voice suddenly changed completely? Continued at 7.03 p.m. this evening....
Yes, I have to admit also that I listen in to the omnibus on Sundays while I'm pottering in the shed. Always found it quite soothing and harmless, but must confess I don't follow the storyline that closely.
Plenty of good stuff on R4. Woman's Hour anybody? I know at least one Lifer who listens in. Learnt more about women from this programme, than any top shelf magazine!
Jenny Murray is better than Jane Garvey
*Got away with that one I think*
But then again never got into Emmerdale, Hollyoaks & Coronation street , which i always thought were for people who lived past Watford, correct me if i'm wrong?
Many is a time I have been nodding in agreement at some point being made to find I am in fact listening to Womens Hour and some sexually frustrated harridan banging on about how unfair life is for wimmin.
As for the Archers my favorite character is Daryl the Brumish layabout dole scrounging alchey, oh and the impossibly ridiculous posh couple (the women is currently running the Ambridge Christmas Panto...) whose voices make me want to reach through the interweb and smash their fucking faces in.
R4 is top listening.