The Archers - History

History

Starting on Whit Monday, May 29, 1950, and continuing with five episodes through that week, a pilot series created by Godfrey Baseley was broadcast to the English Midlands in the Regional Home Service, as 'a farming Dick Barton'. Recordings were sent to London, and after some discussion the BBC decided to commission the series for a longer national run. In the five pilot episodes the Archers owned Wimberton Farm, rather than Brookfield.

Since January 1, 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 (now Radio 4). The original scriptwriters were Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason, who were also working on the series Dick Barton whose popularity partly inspired The Archers and whose slot in the schedules it eventually took. Originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, The Archers was conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the post-World War II years of rationing and food shortages. It was originally formulated around the lives of three farmers; Dan Archer, farming efficiently with little cash, Walter Gabriel, farming inefficiently with little cash, and George Fairbrother, a wealthy business man farming at a loss for tax purposes (which one could do in those days). The programme was hugely successful; at the height of its popularity it was estimated that 60% of adult Britons were regular listeners. The programme's educational remit and the involvement of the MoA ended in the 1970s, but it still contains many storylines and discussions about farming, and has a separate 'agricultural story editor', Graham Harvey.

Tony Shryane MBE was the programme's producer from January 1, 1951 to January 19, 1979. Vanessa Whitburn has been the programme's editor since 1992. Whitburn is on long service leave from March to July 2012, during which time John Yorke, a former executive producer of EastEnders, is 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. Since 2007, The Archers has been available as a podcast. As of 5 June 2011 (2011 -06-05), the omnibus podcast on iTunes in the United Kingdom was at 37 while the daily podcast was at 89.