60 years in Ambridge tonight!

[stuartdg]

Well technically the anniversary is January 1st but there's a double episode of iconic radio 4 soap The Archers tonight,events of which "will rock Ambridge to its very core"

Never mind ur tram crashes,60 years and nearly 16,000 episodes,thats worth celebratin!

[stuartdg]

Well the big event...a generally disliked character gives birth,while another popular character is killed falling from the roof of his "ancestral" home in icy conditions...not the most groundbreaking of storylines... but it does open up some interesting plotlines in the future...

including Archer vs Archer potentially for a share of Brookfield farm...


As a side note BBC FOUR are repeating Arena The Archers first broadcast in 2008 which goes behind the scenes of the 15,000th episode.

[Si Hunt]

There was a story on Digital Spy earlier about how many people have been dissapointed with the storyline being hyped out and then turning out to be nothing more than a minor character falling off a roof.

Si.

[stuartdg]

If a minor character is someone who has been around for the best part of 30years what must a minor character be lol


What i like so much abt the show is that you can literally dip in and out of it for years at a time(if you chose to do so) and catch up instantly without the need to know lots of backstory like in the tv soaps...


maybe this is largely due to the cast being particularly large allowing for a broad spectrum of characters...


Another thing I like is they always give characters no matter how small or long serving decent send offs...this to me is a sign of respecting your audience!

[stuartdg]

Apparantly actor Graham Seed had no say in the demise of Nigel Pargetter,having only been told in November.The character was very popular and one of the show's great eccentrics,and so killing him off was to make an impact for the 60th anniversary...


What is more amusing is the BBC messageboards going into overdrive over this plot,calling for editor Vanessa Whitburn to be sacked

It's not like she hasn't introduced controversial storylines before however!

[stuartdg]

Last night saw royalty in the form of Camilla in Ambridge....


Somehow I don't think she has a glittering acting career ahead,she sounded very bored!

[stuartdg]

The advent of Radio4 Extra,has given way perhaps inevitably to an Archers Spinoff featuring characters who are mentioned but never heard.....


I'm all for expanding the "Ambridge Universe" but part of the charm is that there are these silent characters such as Sabrina Thwaite,who we hear so much about but never meet!