93-560: BBC Midlands (known as the Midland Region from 1927 until c. 1974) is the BBC English Region producing local radio and web content for the City of Birmingham , West Midlands , Herefordshire , Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire , Worcestershire and parts of Gloucestershire . Although the region has been unofficially called BBC West Midlands since BBC East Midlands became
186-653: A BBC journalist having travelled on a number of occasions to Afghanistan; and Ian Pepperell (Roy Tucker), before his death at the age of 53 on 22 December 2023, managed a pub in the New Forest . A five-episode pilot series started on Whit Monday , 29 May 1950, and continued throughout that week. It was created by Godfrey Baseley and was broadcast to the English Midlands in the Regional Home Service, as 'a farming Dick Barton '. Recordings were sent to London, and
279-456: A cast of about 60, the episodes include approximately 20–30 speaking-characters. Most of the cast do acting work on other projects and can disappear for long periods if they are working on commitments such as films or television series. Tamsin Greig plays Debbie Aldridge and has appeared on many television series such as Green Wing , Love Soup , Black Books and Episodes , so Debbie manages
372-464: A club on 31 December 2013 but still has a Facebook page and Twitter feed. Archers Anarchists was formed sometime later, objecting to the "castist" assumptions propagated by the BBC, and claiming that the characters are real. The usenet newsgroup uk.media.radio.archers (referred to as UMRA by its users, who call themselves umrats) has been running since 1995. Its users include experts on subjects covered by
465-513: A day to agricultural emergencies such as outbreaks of foot and mouth disease which affect farmers nationwide when livestock movements are restricted. Many famous people have made cameo appearances on the programme: The theme tune of The Archers is called " Barwick Green " and is a maypole dance from the suite My Native Heath , written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood . The Sunday omnibus broadcast of The Archers starts with
558-407: A family being threatened by a gang of farm thieves. There has been criticism from conservative commentators, such as Peter Hitchens in 1999 that the series has become a vehicle for liberal and left-wing values and agendas, with characters behaving out of character to achieve those goals. However, one of the show's charms is to make much out of everyday, small concerns, such as the possible closure of
651-492: A farm in Hungary and her visits to Ambridge are infrequent. Felicity Jones played Emma Carter from the age of 15 but after a period of studying at Wadham College, Oxford , she gave up the role to move into television and cinema. Some of the actors, when not playing their characters, earn their money through different jobs altogether: Charlotte Connor, when not playing Susan Carter (credited as Charlotte Martin), works full-time as
744-407: A few months earlier, and their blossoming relationship was the talk of the nation. However, searching for a story which would demonstrate real tragedy among increasingly unconvincing episode cliff-hangers, Godfrey Baseley decided that Grace would have to die. The scripts for the week commencing 19 September 1955 were written, recorded, and broadcast on each day, with an "exercise in topicality" given as
837-410: A former executive producer of EastEnders , came in as acting editor. Yorke's arrival prompted charges that the programme was importing the values of EastEnders to Borsetshire, with fans and commentators complaining that characters were behaving unrealistically simply to generate conflict. This was denied by Yorke, who wrote that he agreed to take over "on one condition – that it stayed exactly as it
930-899: A mixed reception. On 15 August 2021, the Sunday evening episode resumed regular broadcast, as did the Friday evening episode on 3 June 2022. The Archers has been broadcast in countries outside the UK, in particular in New Zealand from inception until September 1982, when Radio New Zealand decided not to continue purchasing episodes. Arrangements were made for a special episode without the usual closing cliffhanger. The programme has tackled many serious, contemporary social issues: rural drug addiction ; rape, including rape in marriage ; inter-racial relationships; direct action against genetically modified crops and badger culling; family break-ups; and civil partnerships , and
1023-452: A more rustic , accordion -arranged rendition by The Yetties . The theme for BBC Radio 4 Extra 's The Archers spinoff, Ambridge Extra , is a version arranged by Bellowhead . A library music recording of Barwick Green was used for the pilot and during the early years of the national version, because a bid by Godfrey Baseley to have a special theme composed had been turned down on the grounds of cost, put at £250–£300. However, once
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#17329093787001116-521: A popular source of entertainment for the population at large, attracting nine million listeners by 1953. The Archers is set in the fictional village of Ambridge in the fictional county of Borsetshire , in England. Borsetshire is situated between what are, in reality, the contiguous counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire , south of Birmingham in The Midlands of England. Ambridge is possibly based on
1209-473: A radical review of the BBC's network radio and non-metropolitan broadcasting structure – published on 10 July 1969. Before this the structure of regional broadcasting in England had remained virtually unchanged since the late 1920s, when the establishment of four regional radio transmission stations covering England had led to a regional structure on similar lines. BBC North was based in Manchester and covered
1302-430: A raft of closures, restructures and cost-cutting measures and one of these was the decision not to renew We Are England for a third series. The Archers The Archers is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , the corporation's main spoken-word channel . Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in
1395-402: A region as it acted as the sustaining service for the other regions. These regions (alongside the national regions BBC Scotland , BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland that performed a similar role outside England) were well-suited to delivering the pre-war BBC Regional Programme and the post-war BBC Home Service that replaced it. By the 1960s, though, the growth of television, the birth of
1488-635: A replacement for the current theme, while comedian Billy Connolly included in his act the joke that the theme was so typically British that it should be the national anthem of the United Kingdom . In 2009, comedian Rainer Hersch conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in a performance of the theme, live from the Royal Festival Hall to a listening BBC Radio 3 audience in an attempt to confuse them. He then went on to show how similar it
1581-523: A rural setting". Having aired over 20,000 episodes, it is the world's longest-running present-day drama by number of episodes. The first of five pilot episodes was aired on Whit Monday, 29 May 1950, on the BBC Midlands Home Service, and the first episode broadcast nationally went out on New Year's Day 1951. A significant show in British popular culture , and with over five million listeners, it
1674-751: A senior research psychologist at the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation; her office is a short walk from BBC Birmingham , and thus she is able to fit her work around recordings. Graham Blockey, who played Robert Snell before his death in 2022, worked until 2017 as a full-time general practitioner in Surrey, commuting to and from BBC Birmingham at weekends and on his days off. He kept his role secret from his patients, for fear of losing their respect, until his retirement from medicine in March 2017. Other examples include Felicity Finch (Ruth Archer), who also works as
1767-479: A separate region in 1991, it retains the BBC Midlands name and brand, with its history dating from 1927, for public use. The BBC Midlands region carries a number of regional programmes today. The regular schedule consists of the flagship Midlands Today news programme, regional news bulletins, the weekly regional magazine programme Inside Out and a twenty-minute opt-out during Sunday Politics . The region
1860-660: A small studio in Broad Street, Birmingham ; however, these became too small for the expanding region. Regional News remained at Broad Street until 1971, the small studio being ideal for news bulletins, while other productions took place in a former cinema in Gosta Green and a regency mansion in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston . In 1971, all of these operations were condensed into a new integrated studio complex, Pebble Mill Studios . Pebble Mill became iconic because it featured in some of
1953-476: A small television news studio, the latter to enable local ( opt out ) programming. As a result of the latter, Plymouth -based BBC South West and Southampton -based BBC South were split from BBC West in Bristol; Norwich -based BBC East separated from BBC Midlands in Birmingham; a new smaller BBC North West was created from the existing Manchester -based region, with the old BBC North name being taken by
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#17329093787002046-444: A trend of radio drama editing being seen as "training ground" for higher-paid positions in TV. Alison Hindell , the BBC's head of Audio Drama until October 2018, took over as acting editor before and after Kennair-Jones's time in charge. She effectively swapped roles with Jeremy Howe when she succeeded him as the BBC's commissioning editor for drama and fiction and he started as editor of
2139-565: A wealthy businessman farming at a loss for tax purposes (which one could do in those days). The programme was hugely successful, winning the National Radio Awards' 'Most entertaining programme of the Year' award jointly with Take It from Here in 1954, and winning the award outright in 1955, in which year the audience was reported to have peaked at 20 million. In the late 1950s, despite the growth of television and radio's consequent decline,
2232-638: Is Borchester , and the nearest big city is the cathedral city of Felpersham . Felpersham also has a university. Anywhere further from Ambridge may be referred to humorously with comments such as "that's on the other side of Felpersham!", but characters do occasionally venture further: several attended the Countryside Alliance march in London, there have been references to the gay scene in Manchester's Canal Street . There have been scenes set in other places in
2325-483: Is Radio 4's most listened-to non-news programme, and with over one million listeners via the internet, the programme holds the record for BBC Radio online listening figures. In February 2019, a panel of 46 broadcasting industry experts, of which 42 had a professional connection to the BBC, listed The Archers as the second-greatest radio programme of all time. Partly established with the aim towards educating farmers following World War II , The Archers soon became
2418-447: Is almost exactly what would be expected. The demise of Nigel caused controversy among some listeners, with a number of complaints variously expressing dismay at the death of a popular character, concerns over the manner of the dismissal of the actor, belief that the promise to "shake Ambridge to the core" had been over-hyped, criticism of the credibility of the script (for example, the duration of his plummeting cry caused calculation of
2511-495: Is such a minority interest. Country folk don't do that kind of thing. They have sex the proper way." According to some of the actors, and confirmed in the writings of Godfrey Baseley, in its early days the show was used as a conduit for educational announcements from the Ministry of Agriculture , one actor reading an announcement almost verbatim to another. Direct involvement of the government ended in 1972. The show has reacted within
2604-565: Is the controlling centre for BBC WM , BBC Coventry and Warwickshire , BBC Hereford and Worcester , BBC Radio Stoke and BBC Radio Shropshire . Some of this programming is simulcast with the radio stations in the BBC East Midlands region, and overnight BBC Radio 5 Live is simulcast. BBC West Midlands also produces regional news and local radio pages for Ceefax (retired after the digital switchover in 2012), BBC Red Button and BBC Local News websites for each county. BBC Midlands
2697-641: Is the division of the BBC responsible for local and regional television, radio, web , and teletext services in England , the Isle of Man , and the Channel Islands . It is one of the BBC's four "nations" – the others being BBC Cymru Wales , BBC Northern Ireland , and BBC Scotland . The division is made up of 12 regions. Many of the names of these regions are similar to those of the official government Regions of England , but
2790-647: Is the oldest of the BBC English Regions, having been formed (as the Midland Region) in 1927, when the new Borough Hill high-powered radio transmitter at Daventry became the first to replace the earlier lower-powered city-based radio stations, such as Birmingham's 5IT , and make regional and national broadcasting a technical possibility. The Daventry transmitter broadcast two channels, and as further regional transmission stations followed (starting with London 's Brookmans Park in 1929), this quickly established
2883-401: Is themed around a different subtitle, with the first being Mental Health . Aisling O'Connor, the head of TV Commissioning for BBC England, commissioned 120 episodes to be broadcast in 2022, with the first being shown on 26 January 2022 at 7:30pm. In-addition to being shown on BBC One , select episodes are also repeated on BBC News and on BBC Three . In May 2022, the BBC announced
BBC West Midlands - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-494: Is to " Montagues and Capulets " – "Dance of the Knights" – from Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev , claiming that this was a result of Russian spies going through the BBC's rubbish bins looking for the scripts. At times, a cliffhanger involving the death of a major character or a disaster was marked by the traditional closing theme being replaced by the final dramatic section of Barwick Green involving trombones, cymbals and
3069-584: The BBC Home Service was to be replaced by BBC Local Radio . The report stated that the local radio experiment, started in 1967 "has proved that there is a demand for local radio" and that the BBC should "put forward to the Postmaster General a provisional scheme for expanding our local network to about forty stations" . This structure has largely survived since the 1970s. Local news services were developed on Ceefax from 1997 and were extended onto
3162-524: The BBC Radio Leicester , BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Derby radio stations were given over to a new Nottingham -based BBC East Midlands . A more radical move in this direction took place in 2006 when the West Midlands Region piloted the BBC's Local TV initiative, with television news programmes produced for six local areas, all much smaller than the traditional TV regions, and in
3255-481: The COVID-19 pandemic from 4 May onwards. The death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022 was discussed by Lynda Snell and Lilian Bellamy as the first section of the episode broadcast on Sunday 11 September. The Archers actors are not held on retainers and usually work on episodes for a few days a month. By the nature of the storylines concentrating on particular groups of characters, in any one week out of
3348-592: The Look North branding for Yorkshire , East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and the North East and Cumbria , with national bulletins for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland . All follow the national UK-wide BBC News bulletins. In May 2022 the BBC announced the cessation of the Cambridge and Oxford sub-regional television news bulletins as part of plans to move to a digital-first BBC. The last bulletins aired at 18:30 on
3441-478: The Midland Parliament programme, where members of the public debated controversial issues on air with major public figures. By 1935, the BBC's Midland Region covered an area extending from The Potteries to Norfolk and was producing 40% of its broadcast output itself - a greater proportion even than that of BBC Scotland . With 14 producers, it was the largest BBC department outside London. Regional radio
3534-515: The web in 1999. The decreasing costs of television production and improving technology also enabled the gradual development of even smaller regions. In 1991, BBC East Midlands was finally created in Nottingham , BBC London (separated from BBC South East) became a region in 2001 and BBC North was split into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in 2004 – with the new millennium seeing several BBC regions moving into new premises. In
3627-416: The 16th December 2022. Programmes made for BBC English Regions include Walking with... and Winter Walks , two series produced by Cy Chadwick , where presenters take solitary walks along scenic paths, filming themselves and their surroundings with a 360-degree camera on a selfie stick . All the episodes from a series get a regional slot on BBC One where they are broadcast at all the same time, before
3720-406: The 50th anniversary of ITV's launch, Ysanne Churchman , who played Grace, sent them a congratulatory card signed "Grace Archer". In 1996, William Smethurst recounted a conversation with Baseley in which he reveals his real motivation for killing off Grace Archer: Churchman had been encouraging the other actors to join a trade union. The actor Norman Painting played Phil Archer continuously from
3813-456: The Ambridge environs. Series 1 and 2 had 26 episodes and series 3, 4 and 5 had 20. The reason offered for non-renewal was limited resources. Two organisations dedicated to the programme were established in the 1990s. Archers Addicts was the official body, run by members of the cast. The club had five thousand members and an online shop where Archers memorabilia was sold under licence. It closed as
BBC West Midlands - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-475: The Archers in late August 2018. Since 2007, The Archers has been available as a podcast . Since Easter Sunday 1998, there have been six episodes a week, from Sunday to Friday, broadcast at around 19:03 following the news summary. Episodes are repeated the following day at 14:02 except the Friday evening episode that repeats on Saturday at 14:45, (from 6th April 2024). The six episodes are re-run unabridged in
3999-527: The BBC decided to commission the series for a longer national run. In the five pilots the Archers owned Wimberton Farm, rather than Brookfield. Baseley subsequently edited The Archers for 22 years. Since 1 January 1951, five 15-minute episodes (since 1998, six 12½-minute episodes) have been transmitted each week, at first on the BBC Light Programme and subsequently on the BBC Home Service (and Radio 4 from 1 October 1967). Early afternoon repeats of
4092-555: The BBC's first local radio station, BBC Radio Leicester , in 1967, and with many more of these planned, the relevance of the regional radio station broadcasting from the Welsh border to the North Sea was immediately cast into doubt. Television was also presenting more of a threat than an opportunity. Although the Midlands had been the first area outside London to receive television coverage with
4185-618: The East, South and South West regions, sub-regional opt-outs during local news programmes have also been created (similar to those on ITV regional news programmes), based respectively in Cambridge, Oxford and Jersey. In total, the BBC has produced the regional news bulletins for London , the East , South East , South , South West , West , the West and East Midlands , and the North West regions of England, with
4278-447: The Sunday morning omnibus at 10:00. On Remembrance Sunday , the omnibus edition begins at the earlier time of 09:15. In March 2024, the BBC announced scheduling changes that will see the Sunday omnibus begin one hour later, at 11.00. One of the most controversial Archers episodes was broadcast on 22 September 1955, coinciding with the launch of the UK's first commercial television station. Phil and Grace Archer had been married just
4371-496: The UK's first daily regional news programmes. Regional television had been established in 1957 with the launch of local evening news bulletins. Although it fared better than the struggling BBC North or BBC West (which was threatened for a while with being absorbed by the Midlands Region), it was clear that if BBC Midlands was too large to be truly local in the radio market, it was equally too small to be as self-sufficient across
4464-596: The United Kingdom and abroad, with some characters residing overseas such as in South Africa and Hungary. Ambridge still has a village shop and post office , originally thanks to the philanthropy of Jack Woolley (d. 2014). The business subsequently became a community shop managed by Susan and run by a team of volunteers. The Bull, the village's only pub , is perhaps the most recognisable structure in Ambridge while St. Stephen's Church, established in 1281, dates back to Norman times. The church has undergone many changes over
4557-444: The actual date of the death was changed during the scriptwriting stage to coincide with the launch of Associated-Rediffusion . Deliberate or not, the episode attracted widespread media attention, reported by newspapers around the world. This controversy has been parodied twice: in " The Bowmans ", an episode of the television comedy programme Hancock , and in the play The Killing of Sister George and its 1968 film adaptation . On
4650-601: The area from Cheshire and Sheffield northwards, BBC Midlands and East Anglia was based in Birmingham covering a swathe of central England from the Potteries to Norfolk , and BBC South and West was based in Bristol covering the area south and west of a line from Gloucester to Brighton . The London area, though it had regional transmission infrastructure of its own, produced only national programming and wasn't considered to be
4743-602: The areas covered are often significantly different, being determined by terrestrial transmission coverage rather than administrative boundaries. BBC English Regions has its headquarters at The Mailbox in Birmingham (West Midlands) and additional regional television centres in Norwich , Nottingham , Broadcasting House (London), Newcastle , MediaCityUK (Salford), Southampton , Tunbridge Wells , Plymouth , Bristol , Leeds , and Kingston upon Hull as well as local radio stations based at 43 locations across England. Overall,
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#17329093787004836-421: The building's height at considerably more than had been imagined); also a perceived unwillingness of the editorial team to engage with these listener complaints. Topical subjects have been added to the script, but this was not possible during the COVID-19 pandemic . Actors were initially recorded in their homes and included references to the pandemic from some of the characters sharing their private thoughts with
4929-549: The case of Birmingham and the Black Country , even smaller than those covered by local radio stations. This programming was broadcast on digital television and over the internet only. The experiment came to an end as planned in September 2006 and has not been repeated since. On the 15 January 2021, BBC Radio launched a new temporary station called BBC Radio Wolverhampton. The first studios used by BBC Midlands were offices and
5022-431: The closing bars of the signature tune – known as the "doom music" to some fan groups. This tradition has been dropped more recently, with events such as the death of Nigel Pargetter being followed by the normal closing music despite the gravity of the incident. This has irritated some followers, who consider the jollity of the normal segment inappropriate in such circumstances. A brief extract from The Dream of Gerontius
5115-559: The division produces over 70% of the BBC's domestic television and radio output hours, for about 7% of the licence fee. Since April 2009, the English Regions division has been aligned with the BBC News department to "maximise co-operation in the BBC's news operations". The current BBC English Regions division was the product of the controversial Broadcasting in the Seventies report –
5208-438: The explanation to the cast. On Thursday, listeners heard the sound effects of Grace trying to rescue Midnight, her horse, from a fire in the stable at Brookfield and the crash of a falling timber beam . Whether the timing of the episode was a deliberate attempt to overshadow the opening night of the BBC's first commercial rival has been debated ever since. It was certainly planned some months in advance, but it may well be that
5301-565: The first trial series in 1950 until his death on 29 October 2009. His last Archers performance was recorded just two days before his death, and was broadcast on 22 November. He is cited in Guinness World Records as the longest-serving actor in a single soap opera. Under the pseudonym "Bruno Milna", Painting also wrote around 1,200 complete episodes, which culminated in the 10,000th episode. June Spencer , who celebrated her 100th birthday in 2019, played Peggy Archer (later Woolley) in
5394-619: The full range of television programming as it had been in radio. The result was the radical shakeup that took place following the publication of the Broadcasting in the Seventies report in 1969. The eastern part of the region was reborn as the Norwich -based BBC East , with both it and the smaller remaining BBC Midlands focussing entirely on regional television (primarily regional news) and local radio. Regional radio ceased almost entirely (save for regional opt-outs on Radio 4 until 1980), and all television and radio production for national networks
5487-439: The history of radio – The Archers – at the beginning of 1951. Despite these successes, two technological developments gradually started to make the old regional system untenable. The development of FM radio made it possible to fit a far greater number of channels into the spectrum without conflict and interference, which opened the possibility of more towns and cities having their own radio stations. The Midlands Region opened
5580-485: The listener. From 4 May 2020 to 14 August 2021, the broadcast was reduced to four episodes (Monday – Thursday). Sunday episodes resumed on 15 August 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions , weekly programming reduced to four episodes, omitting episodes on Sunday and Friday. The Sunday omnibus was correspondingly reduced in length. After continuing with pre-recorded episodes and repeating some classic episodes, new episodes started that had been recorded remotely, to
5673-460: The main Archers characters, such as S'aint for Shula. (There are nicknames for most of the regular characters.) Due perhaps to it being initially more accessible in academia, the discussions can be quite detailed, though UMRA considers itself to be a friendly and welcoming group, where in particular flamewars and the like are not welcome. Despite the general decline of usenet with the advent of trendier media such as Facebook and Twitter, UMRA remains
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#17329093787005766-570: The mid-1980s the Radio Four Review Board noted that scripts, directing and acting was "very good" and sometimes "better than ever". In August 1985 The Listener said that the programme's revival was "sustained by some of the best acting, direction and writing on radio." Tony Shryane MBE was the programme's producer from 1 January 1951 to 19 January 1979. Vanessa Whitburn was the programme's editor from 1992 till 2013. Whitburn took service leave from March to July 2012, and John Yorke ,
5859-487: The more locally based ITV franchises in 1955 and the development of smaller BBC Local Radio stations (made possible by the development of FM radio ) were making the structure look increasingly anachronistic. The effect of Broadcasting in the Seventies was to separate the two different roles of regional BBC offices into different organisations: Each of the production centres also had network radio studios ( BBC Birmingham , for instance, producing The Archers ) plus
5952-447: The most popular programming of the 1970s. Pebble Mill had two studios, Studio A for major productions and Studio B, for Midlands Today and other local programming. When the complex was built, it was intended that there should be a Studio C for drama production; however, this never happened, and instead the foyer of the building was used as an extra studio, complete with the gallery and facilities built in for Studio C. A conservatory studio
6045-399: The need for the sort of large integrated studio complexes represented by Pebble Mill . In addition, the building was getting costly to heat and maintain. In 2000, Studio A was closed, following the need to make savings at the corporation, and plans were made to dispose of Pebble Mill. In 2004, productions split two ways. BBC West Midlands, Midlands Today , BBC WM , BBC English Regions and
6138-513: The network production base BBC Birmingham moved to The Mailbox in Birmingham city centre, with many of the productions moving to the BBC Drama Village . The Mailbox contains the studios, a newsroom and radio facilities, all of which have windows allowing the public to view how their television and radio is made. It was announced in August 2022, that BBC Birmingham will leave The Mailbox for
6231-757: The new creative quarter in Digbeth, Birmingham from 2026. The new broadcast centre will occupy the former Typhoo Tea factory. By then, in adjacent studios, the BBC’s flagship show Masterchef would have already taken up residence. The move coincides with BBC’s lease at The Mailbox coming to an end, having been located there since the move from Pebble Mill in 2004. In addition to the main headquarters, BBC West Midlands has local radio stations and news bureaux located in Coventry , Gloucester , Shrewsbury , Stoke-on-Trent , and Worcester . BBC English Regions BBC English Regions
6324-584: The new version inferior, specifically that it lacked "brio", although the BBC publicised the fact that the orchestra contained some of the musicians who had played in the previous recording, including Harold Rich (piano) and Norman Parker (percussion). Robert Robinson once compared the tune to "the genteel abandon of a lifelong teetotaller who has suddenly taken to drink". On April Fool's Day 2004 both The Independent and The Today Programme claimed that BBC executives had commissioned composer Brian Eno to record an electronic version of "Barwick Green" as
6417-600: The newly created region based in Leeds ; and the existing Newcastle -based BBC North East separated from the old BBC North Region in this process. In addition, London and the surrounding area was finally recognised as a region with the creation of BBC South East although the region was not to get a dedicated regional programme of its own until 1982 and regional news bulletins for the area did not launch until September 1985. These new regions produced local news programmes and opt-outs on television, but regional radio programming on
6510-519: The opening of the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station in 1949, the greater cost of television production compared to radio meant that it was always going to be a more centralised service. A television studio was opened in Birmingham in 1950 and early successes included Come Dancing in 1949 – the first regionally produced television programme to establish itself as a regular in the national network schedule - and Midlands Today in 1964, one of
6603-473: The output of other regions. The first director of the new Midland regional service was Percy Edgar , who had been the announcer and Head of Programming for 5IT on its opening night in 1922 and was to be the dominant figure in Midlands broadcasting from its birth until 1945. Edgar was a strong believer in the value of local production and fought to establish the Midland Region as an independent source of programming, pioneering community-focussed initiatives such as
6696-534: The pattern for pre-war broadcasting. 5XX from Daventry (later – from 7 October 1934 – from Droitwich ) carried the BBC National Programme originating in London, while 5GB broadcast the BBC Regional Programme , the regional controller of which was free to schedule, as he saw fit, a mix of networked programming from London, regional programmes produced by the Birmingham base, and items taken from
6789-520: The pilot episode and continued in the role until 2022. The Archers reached its 60th anniversary on 1 January 2011 and to mark this achievement, a special half-hour episode was broadcast on Sunday, 2 January, on BBC Radio 4 from 7pm. The episode had been advertised as containing events that would "shake Ambridge to the core". This phrase even gave rise to the initialism #SATTC trending on the website Twitter during that weekend as listeners speculated about what might happen, and then reported their views as
6882-466: The poor standing of radio drama in general, described as "a failure to fully shake off the conventions of non-realism which had prevailed in the 1940s and 1950s." Programme chief Jock Gallagher, responsible for The Archers , described these as the serial's "dog days". Sweeping editorial reforms followed, included the introduction of women writers (there had been none before 1975), two of whom, Helen Leadbeater and Margaret Phelan, were credited with giving
6975-528: The previous evening's episode began on 14 December 1964. The original scriptwriters were Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason , who were also working on the nightly thriller series about the special agent Dick Barton. The popularity of his adventures partly inspired The Archers , which eventually took over Barton's evening slot. At first, however, the national launch placed the serial at the "terrible" time of 11.45 am, but it moved to Dick Barton's former slot of 6.45 pm from 2 April 1951. An omnibus edition of
7068-482: The production team, some significant but unforeseen events require scenes to be rewritten and rerecorded at short notice, such as the death of Princess Margaret (particularly poignant because she had appeared as herself on the programme), the World Trade Center attacks , and the 7 July 2005 London bombings . The events and implications of the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis required many "topical inserts" and
7161-410: The programme a new definitive style of writing and content, although some listeners complained about their radical feminism. In 1980 Julie Burchill commented that the women of Ambridge were no longer stuck with "the gallons of greengage jam old-guard male scriptwriters kept them occupied with for over twenty years"; but were 'into post-natal depression and alcoholism on the way to self-discovery'. By
7254-524: The programme was still claiming 11 million listeners and was also being transmitted in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. By the mid-1970s, however, the audience for the two daily broadcasts and the weekend omnibus combined was less than three million and in 1976 the BBC Radio Four Review Board twice considered whether or not to axe the programme. The serial's woes at this time were seen to mirror
7347-491: The programme, such as the many aspects of farming, the running of small businesses, bell ringing ; lengthy discussions ensue – as well as light-hearted matters, and plot speculation. Various gatherings occur where umrats come together. The first was a series of about ten annual barbecues. The first was attended by Carole Boyd ( Lynda Snell ). They have included participants from Europe and the Americas. It has nicknames for many of
7440-488: The public and their use was restricted even inside the BBC, partly because of an agreement with the Musicians' Union . In 1992, the theme was re-recorded in stereo, retaining the previous arrangements. The venue was Symphony Hall, Birmingham , the conductor Ron Goodwin , producer David Welsby and the sound mixer Norman McLeod. The slightly different sound mixing and more leisurely tempo reportedly led some listeners to consider
7533-407: The rewriting of several storylines. In January 2012, Oliver Sterling, owner of Grange Farm, together with his tenant, Ed Grundy, elected to vaccinate the badgers on their farm in an attempt to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis . The plotline came within weeks of the government confirming a badger cull trial . It was announced on 29 March 2020 that the programme would include reference to
7626-515: The serial had become undeniably established, a new recording of Barwick Green was authorised and performed by the BBC Midland Light Orchestra on 24 March 1954. This mono recording was also accompanied by four movements entitled "A Village Suite", composed by Kenneth Pakeman to complement Barwick Green. Excerpts from these movements were then used for a time as bridging music between scenes. The 1954 recordings were never made available to
7719-407: The story unfolded. The main events in the episode were Helen Archer giving birth to her son Henry and Nigel Pargetter falling to his death from the roof of Lower Loxley Hall. This unlikely event provoked interest in the frequency and causes of death in the series. In fact, although the incidence of accidental death and suicide is seven times the national average, the overall mortality rate in Ambridge
7812-558: The village of Cutnall Green , though various other villages claim to be the inspiration for Ambridge; The Bull , Ambridge's pub , is modelled on The Old Bull in Inkberrow , whereas Hanbury 's St Mary the Virgin is often used as a stand-in for Ambridge's parish church , St Stephen's. Other fictional villages include Penny Hassett, Loxley Barrett, Darrington, Hollerton, Edgeley, Waterley Cross and Lakey Green. The county town of Borsetshire
7905-473: The village shop, the loss and rediscovery of a pair of spectacles, competitive marmalade -making, or nonsense such as a ' spile troshing ' competition, rather than the large-scale and improbable events that form the plots of many soap operas. Godfrey Baseley was quoted in The Independent as objecting to the homosexuality in the programme, saying "It is disgusting ... It is distasteful because being gay
7998-618: The week's episodes began on 5 January 1952. Originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, The Archers was conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the Postwar era of rationing and food shortages. The Archers originally centred on the lives of three farmers; Dan Archer, farming efficiently with little cash, Walter Gabriel, farming inefficiently with little cash, and George Fairbrother,
8091-405: The whole series gets a national repeat on either BBC Two or BBC Four . In 2022, a new regional documentary strand titled We Are England was launched, as a replacement for the current affairs show Inside Out . A notable change is that episodes represent large, new, combinations of English regions, based in six main bases (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Norwich); each week
8184-616: The years, including a number of different vicars. The eight bells are rung by a group led by Neil Carter. Unlike some soap operas, episodes of The Archers portray events taking place on the date of broadcast, allowing many topical subjects to be included. Real-life events which can be readily predicted are often written into the script, such as the annual Oxford Farming Conference and the FIFA World Cup . On some occasions, scenes recorded at these events are planned and edited into episodes shortly before transmission. More challengingly for
8277-585: Was also built that held Good Morning with Anne and Nick for many years. The new studios encompassed network and regional productions and radio, and was the Headquarters for BBC English Regions . By the 1990s, change meant Pebble Mill's future was uncertain. Advances in technology made outside broadcasts cheaper and much more common, while also increasing the scope for independent and outsourced television production. In combination, these meant that much television programming could increasingly be produced without
8370-550: Was and that I didn't have to change anything." Whitburn was succeeded as editor by Sean O'Connor in September 2013. In September 2016, Huw Kennair-Jones took over as editor though O'Connor continued to oversee the Helen and Rob storyline until its conclusion. Kennair-Jones announced in October 2017 that he was to leave the BBC to work as commissioning editor for ITV . The short tenure of two successive Archers editors led to concerns of
8463-561: Was played following the death of Phil Archer. When John Archer died no music was played. There was a nod to The Archers in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London on 27 July 2012, where the theme tune was played at the beginning of a segment celebrating British culture: the sound of a radio could be heard being tuned in as Barwick Green was played. BBC Radio 4 Extra ran an occasional short supplement, Ambridge Extra , between 2011 and 2013, featuring characters away from
8556-462: Was suspended during World War II , but in July 1945, the BBC Home Service was launched on a similar regional basis to the pre-war Regional Programme. The Midlands Region continued under new director Dennis Morris in the independent and innovative vein established by Edgar – pioneering on-air listener feedback with Listeners Answer Back in 1946 and launching the longest-running and most popular programme in
8649-485: Was transferred to the separate BBC Birmingham network production centre. The cost of television production technology decreased throughout the 1980s and 1990s and this had several effects on the BBC in the Midlands. Smaller, more local channels became viable. The BBC's Midlands coverage had long been accused of being excessively Birmingham-centric, and in 1991, television broadcasting from the Waltham transmitting station and
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