Lifelong Archers fans Kath and Ade went to Brighton Dome for The Archers: Live at 75

What followed was part panel show, part pub quiz, part live radio drama and a surprisingly moving encounter with the people behind the voices.

Words: Kath Perry

A room full of people who understand

I had very few expectations when Ade and I arrived at Brighton Dome. I hoped there might be a live reading, and I knew several regular cast members would appear, but that was about it.

What I had not expected was how warming it would feel to walk into a packed venue full of people who also love The Archers.

My relationship with the show began long before I chose it for myself. I think I imprinted on it as a small child. It played at lunchtime in our house, and the theme tune still produces an almost Pavlovian response. In my mind, I am back at the kitchen table with my mum, dad and sister, eating Heinz tomato soup with toast topped with cheddar.

There was a period when I stopped listening regularly, but once my adult life settled into its own routines, Ambridge returned too.

The voices arrive

Comedian and committed Archers fan Angela Barnes hosted the evening, and she was an inspired choice. She warmed up the audience before bringing out the cast, then guided the conversation with the timing of a stand-up and the curiosity of someone who genuinely knows the programme.

The Brighton show featured members of the Flower Cast: Timothy Bentinck, who has played David Archer since 1982, Charlotte Martin as Susan Carter, Ben Norris as David’s son Ben Archer, and Annabelle Dowler as Kirsty Miller. They shared stories about recording, long-running plots and the oddities of playing characters who may feel more familiar to listeners than the actors themselves.

The biggest thrill came when each actor first opened their mouth. Out came the character’s voice, and the whole room seemed to make a tiny, collective sound of recognition. You could hear little intakes of breath and murmurs of excitement.

As listeners, we build our own version of each person. Mine are not sharply drawn faces. They are more like clouds of history, personality, relationships and remembered storylines. Hearing those familiar voices emerge from an actual flesh-and-blood human is a peculiar buzz. Seeing the actors has not replaced the people in my head, but I do now have a face available should I choose to attach one to the voice.

How to build Ambridge with an ironing board

The evening also introduced us to Vanessa Nuttall, the sound-effects artist who creates much of Ambridge’s physical world while the actors perform. She was one of the highlights of the night.

Radio lets us imagine the village, but that imagined world depends on an extraordinary collection of practical objects. The familiar clatter of farm gates comes from a 1950s ironing board. Other effects rely on equally unlikely combinations of household items, water, fabric and whatever else can make the right noise at precisely the right moment.

What stayed with me was the timing. Nuttall works alongside the actors, responding to their movements and helping them inhabit the scene. A door, a bath, an animal birth or a piece of farm machinery must sound convincing enough for millions of listeners to picture it without thinking about how the noise was made.

You know that The Archers requires writers, performers, directors, technicians and editors. Seeing part of that work happen in front of you adds another layer of appreciation. It also reminds you how much skill goes into something designed to sound completely natural.

The Bull pub quiz and a live episode

The format kept moving. A screen invited us to scan a QR code and answer questions, including how long we had listened. The options ran from more than 50 years to, roughly, “I was forced to come and have no idea what is going on”. About five per cent of the audience appeared to fall into that final category.

We then took part in an Archers pub quiz, held in The Bull in spirit if not in bricks and mortar. Audience members also submitted questions for the cast. Once I worked out that I needed to turn off my Wi-Fi, the technology behaved itself.

After the interval came the element I had hoped for: a specially written live episode set at Ambridge’s notoriously competitive Flower and Produce Show. Barnes appeared as herself, drafted in as the celebrity guest judge, while Nuttall supplied the effects in full view.

A pint with David Archer

The evening acquired an unexpected final act after we crossed the road for a drink. Several cast members had chosen the same pub, which caused a fresh surge of excitement for Ade, who had already spent most of the night operating at a fairly high level.

Timothy Bentinck came over, signed our programmes and chatted with us. He explained that one pleasure of taking The Archers on stage is finally getting an audience reaction. In the studio, the cast perform without knowing whether a funny line has landed, a revelation has shocked anyone, or a quiet moment has moved the listener. A live audience gives them that response immediately.

That summed up the whole evening. The Archers usually travels in one direction, from a Birmingham studio into kitchens, cars and headphones across the country. At Brighton Dome, the cast could hear what these voices and stories meant to people who had lived alongside them for decades.

Bentinck did not sweep through for a quick photograph and disappear. He stopped, signed programmes and talked. For two people who had spent the evening hearing about the gap between actors and characters, sharing a chat with David Archer, or at least the man who has voiced him for more than four decades, felt like the right ending.

Should you go?

Not a regular Archers listener? I wondered whether someone who has never listened before would enjoy The Archers: Live at 75; I think they could. Barnes made it accessible, the cast are funny and the mechanics of radio drama are interesting in their own right. The audience poll also proves that a few people attend under gentle duress and survive.

Regular listeners will get more from it though. Every voice carries memories, and every reference opens a door into another storyline. For committed fans, the evening feels as though someone has pulled back a curtain on a place we know well but have never actually seen.

It has not changed the way I picture Ambridge and while I will not now imagine the actors’ faces every time I listen, it has changed my appreciation of the work behind each episode. I feel more connected to the cast, crew and writers, and perhaps even slightly proprietorial about the programme.

I would recommend it without hesitation. The Archers: Live at 75 returns on 3 September, with dates in Wimbledon, Oxford, Guildford, Woking, Birmingham, Southend, Bexhill, Harrogate and Liverpool during the month. The tour then continues through October and November, ending in Wolverhampton on 26 November. Casts vary by venue, so check the listing before booking.

The Archers at 75: book here