BrritSki
2025-03-03 15:59:32 UTC
Iwas once a fan of The Archers, to the extent that the Guardian quoted
me in 2007 outlining how ‘an unlikely combination of support from the
Queen and Julie Burchill led to the transformation of Britain’s
‘everyday story of country folk’ from a dull and tired format to its
present cult status.’ Apparently I wrote that ‘No longer are the women
of Ambridge stuck with ‘the gallons of greengage jam that the old-guard
male scriptwriters kept them occupied with for over 20 years.’
The BBC seems determined to educate listeners whom they think are ignorant
Look, I know I was taking a lot of drugs back then and my judgement
wasn’t the best; witness the pair of jokers I’d been married to already!
But of all the wacky attitudes I’ve held during my long, loony life (Tom
Robinson was the best thing to come put of punk, I once crazily opined
in print way back in the 1970s – again, I’m blaming the drugs), the idea
of The Archers as some kind of feminist vanguard vehicle has to be one
of the wackiest. Thankfully, I’ve since come to my senses.
After a couple of decades of being a perfectly good soap opera, like
every other serial drama, whether on radio or TV, from the BBC or ITV,
listening to The Archers on Radio 4 has come to feel like sitting in a
doctor’s waiting room without a book, when you’re forced to plough
through public-health pamphlets telling you how to think about
everything, from breakfast to Brexit. But the storylines of the last few
months show just how far The Archers has fallen.
These days you’d swear that there was a mandatory number of mentions of
‘climate change’; a teenager from the Malik family, who joined the show
in 2023, has joined the local clandestine ‘re-wilding’ group, showing
all the enthusiasm for contraband beavers that young men usually reserve
for the teachings of Andrew Tate. I’ve limited myself to a monthly
‘hate-listen’ ever since the strangely mute ‘Xander’ – the test-tube
offspring of resident Lovely Gay Couple Adam and Ian – was ‘birthed’ by
a Bulgarian fruit-picker whose womb was hired by the hour by the pair.
I’m just waiting for ten-year-old Henry to say he’s trans and we’ll have
a full bingo card.
me in 2007 outlining how ‘an unlikely combination of support from the
Queen and Julie Burchill led to the transformation of Britain’s
‘everyday story of country folk’ from a dull and tired format to its
present cult status.’ Apparently I wrote that ‘No longer are the women
of Ambridge stuck with ‘the gallons of greengage jam that the old-guard
male scriptwriters kept them occupied with for over 20 years.’
The BBC seems determined to educate listeners whom they think are ignorant
Look, I know I was taking a lot of drugs back then and my judgement
wasn’t the best; witness the pair of jokers I’d been married to already!
But of all the wacky attitudes I’ve held during my long, loony life (Tom
Robinson was the best thing to come put of punk, I once crazily opined
in print way back in the 1970s – again, I’m blaming the drugs), the idea
of The Archers as some kind of feminist vanguard vehicle has to be one
of the wackiest. Thankfully, I’ve since come to my senses.
After a couple of decades of being a perfectly good soap opera, like
every other serial drama, whether on radio or TV, from the BBC or ITV,
listening to The Archers on Radio 4 has come to feel like sitting in a
doctor’s waiting room without a book, when you’re forced to plough
through public-health pamphlets telling you how to think about
everything, from breakfast to Brexit. But the storylines of the last few
months show just how far The Archers has fallen.
These days you’d swear that there was a mandatory number of mentions of
‘climate change’; a teenager from the Malik family, who joined the show
in 2023, has joined the local clandestine ‘re-wilding’ group, showing
all the enthusiasm for contraband beavers that young men usually reserve
for the teachings of Andrew Tate. I’ve limited myself to a monthly
‘hate-listen’ ever since the strangely mute ‘Xander’ – the test-tube
offspring of resident Lovely Gay Couple Adam and Ian – was ‘birthed’ by
a Bulgarian fruit-picker whose womb was hired by the hour by the pair.
I’m just waiting for ten-year-old Henry to say he’s trans and we’ll have
a full bingo card.