The Archers Analysis

The Archers is a contemporary BBC Radio 4 drama about people’s lives living in a rural area. It is the longest running soap opera in the world.

The show would need a lot of research going into it due to the fact that it is a very specific way of life which includes farming and the writers would need to know the accuracy of what to write about the agricultural setting. The show has an agricultural advisor called Steve Peacock who conversed about ‘the Bridge Farm dispersal sale’ in which the writer, Carole Simpson Solazzo, decided she wanted to attend. The closest one she found was in Cumbria.

Solazzo stated that ‘there is no way a writer could conjure scenes like this out of the imagination’ which shows that first hand research is important as it allows the writers to create realistic imagery for the listener, rather than make things up that may not be believable. This kind of research adds to the shows credibility. Furthermore, she ‘took lots of notes during the auction, listening out for phrases and jargon used to talk about the cows, and at one point I recorded some of the patter on my phone, so [she] could get the rhythms and speed right when [she] came to write our Bridge Farm auctioneer’s speeches.’ This helps a great deal as like I said before, it adds to the shows credibility and authenticity, helping to make the listener believe that is is real.

Carole Simpson Solazzo. (2013). Researching the Bridge Farm sale.Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/entries/0dbf3e94-efaf-345c-95c2-307d4f6243c6. Last accessed 25/2/18.