Never listened to The Archers - where/how to start

[Boilingicicle]

I would like to start listening to TA but would it possible to make sense of whats going on? Are there any introductions or guides anyone can recommend? If I started listening with no background knowledge would i just ‘get the hang’ of the who, the why, the what etc? Any advice welcome. I need something entertaining I can follow as there’s less and less on TV/Netflix etc that I like.

The bbc archers page has a who's who with some background on characters. I think you'd get the hang quite quickly as they do tend to use each other's names more than is natural.
The Archers thread on here started by @gaspodethewonderdog is full of really helpful people who will happily fill in the gaps.

Yes just start listening and you'll get the hang of it.

Oh that’s great. I’ll take a look at the BBC page and just plunge in and hope to get the gist as I go. Thanks.

When I started listening to the Archers in 2014, I got confused at first working out to whom each different voice belonged, and I found it very useful to read a daily summary either before listening on catchup, or at the same time as listening. I quite quickly linked up voices with names that way!

The summary I used to read doesn't update any more, but there's one here which looks pretty good Ambridge Reporter

I hope you get into it. I do love the Archers, even when it goes through a poor patch. It's comforting to me.

ApplesinmyPocket
The Ambridge Reporter looks very helpful for some background. I’ll definitely work through 2021 and then plunge in. Thank you.

If you want entertaining you should steer clear of the Archers.

sashh. That sounds ominous . In that it’s gritty?, boring?

haters gotta hate....

I started randomly listening in 2018 and I am now a total addict!
I listen to the Omnibus on Sundays (BBC sounds if you can't listen to it 'live') so that I get a week's worth in one go. Can be really gripping at times, but is just a gentle listen and a bit of escapism for me.

I’ve listened since a child roughly 1971 onwards. My mother was an addict and passed it on.
A few years before she died we sat down and each did a family tree of TA. Then we compared. We both got quite a bit wrong ! Doesn’t diminish the pleasure of keeping up with them all.
There was a family tree (partial) online somewhere.
Having said all of that just start to immerse yourself and you’ll pick up the basics.

TellySavalashairbrush that sounds what im looking for - gentle listening, storylines that can be gripping/interesting at times without much Of the OTT stuff of TV soaps, a bit of escapism.

Have you considered therapy or talking to your vicar?
You really do not need to pursue a possible addiction.

I have to differ with those saying just listen. I have Had Radio 4 on continuously for 13 years and still have no clue who anyone in the Archers is.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/4349822--Archers-thread-131-A-time-to-plant-a-time-to-reap-Discuss-The-Archers-here?msgid=110820542

You’re welcome!

@Boilingicicle

sashh. That sounds ominous . In that it’s gritty?, boring?

Boring, IMHO.

My parents were radio 4 addicts so I've been subjected to it from a young age (I still think the theme tune is new). Because it's on the radio and is supposed to be set in and around farms they have to explain things so,

"Oh I see you are milking the cows"
Cow noise
"Yes I've got twenty to milk today"
"Well I won't be long then, but did you hear about X, Y or Z"

X - someone cheated in the cake making competition
Y - someone has bought a farm / gone bankrupt and needs to sell their farm
Z - something at the church

And it's even worse if it's something that would be dramatic on TV like someone falling off a roof.

In TV you would see a dodgy ladder and someone falling, but on the radio it has to be explained again;

"Oh you don't see many wooden ladders there days"

"This old thing, it served me well since 1930, never let me down yet"

"Right, I'll be off then, leaving you alone with a dodgy ladder and a slippery roof , I'll be out of earshot in 5 seconds so I won't hear you if you shout for help, and even though we spend most days popping into each other's houses no one will come by until tomorrow, are you sure your ladder is safe?"

Can't argue with any of that, @sashh, but I'm hopelessly addicted anyway. Have utterly failed to infect convert my children or my husband, sadly. They all mock me for my Archers obsession. Ah well, into every life a little rain must fall.

You and John Finnemore would get along: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mlwdp Brilliant short radio sketch - How The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to The Archers.

I started listening to The Archers several years ago and would probably have come to my senses and quit had it not been for the MN Archers thread which is often more entertaining than the programme ( they listen so you don't have to )

You will pick it up but you don't want to as it really is a ridiculous pile of shit now but I'm addicted so what can I do? Don't be me. Choose life.

@Boilingicicle, please do join us on the main Archers thread, or just lurk for a bit if that feels less daunting, although we are a welcoming bunch on the whole.

I've been listening for about 40 years actively, although I'd often been in the room when TA was on in earlier years (my Mum was an intermittent listener and liked to have R4 on when she was cooking, for company). I think you just have to plunge in and hope for the best.

Very briefly - they all live in a village called Ambridge, which is in Borsetshire, in the West Midlands. Nearest town is Borchester. County town/city is Felpersham.

Most of the people who speak have Archer blood or are/have been married to Archers. There are dozens of them. Ask if you can't work out who anyone is.

The pub is called The Bull and stands on the village green, where there's a duckpond and a children's playground. Opposite the green there's a community shop and post office. Nearby there's an ancient C of E church called St Stephen's. The village has a veterinary practice but no doctor or primary school these days.

Just outside the village there's a country house hotel called Grey Gables with a pool, health spa, country park and golf club. Nearby is the stately home of Lower Loxley, now run as a conference/wedding venue and tourist attraction.

There are several farms dotted round the outskirts of the village. Bridge Farm is smallish, organic and produces yoghourt, ice cream, cheese and vegetables. Also has a farm shop and a cafe. Home Farm is very large and has arable, deer and a fishing lake. Brookfield Farm is medium-sized and has dairy and beef cows, sheep, hens, some land used for growing wheat, barley and potatoes.

That'll do for now! Happy listening.

You could always go and read a good book instead...

There are family trees of the various families available online, but I'm not sure they'll be of use till you've at least got an idea of who some of the main characters are.

That'll do for now! Happy listening

Shame on you Gasp for enabling an innocent. You've not warned them of the horrors of Pip, Ruth, Pip, Helen, Pip, Adam, Pip, Ian, Shula, Pip, Kenton, Pip, Eddie Grundy, Pip... need I go on?

@Nofacedetected, she might like some or all of those people, or at any rate actually enjoy loathing them. Many must, surely. 5 million listeners can't be wrong!

By the way, you mentioned Pip more than once there. An easy mistake to make, as she is so ... [racks brains for suitable adjective that encapsulates the embodiment of tedium and smugness that is Pip] memorable. Yes, that's it. Not easily forgotten, that's for sure.

sashh. That's brilliant.🤣.
Thanks for the invite and the helpful précis gasp0de.

I listened to last night's episode and just tried to enjoy it without trying to work out any who why what and wheres. I enjoyed it. I will just keep going and hope to pick up what's going on along the way.

Ebearhug. My concentration has been shot by a combination of too much time on-line. I seem to have lost the ability to get into a book anymore. I'm hoping listening to TA will stop me scrolling and build my concentration up a bit.

A combination of too much time on line and the discombulation of lockdown.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
That sketch is hilarious! Thanks for starting my day so brilliantly (long time intermittent listener)!

Pip is the entitled one (doesn't narrow it down) with strange enunciateion. She lives with (cohabits?) with Toe B, the father of her child.

Toe B is the great-nephew of Pip's grandfather's first wife.

I dislike Pip.