Well, it's a funny old world on Facebook, I must say. After years of manful resistance I've finally succumbed, and so far I'm rather enjoying it. The Dabbler is there now, of course, which is the main reason I took the plunge (or 'leap in the dark', as the pro-EU lot would put it).
Today The Dabbler named its three current worst programmes on Radio 4 as You and Yours (agreed, though I do love Winifred Robinson's voice), any sitcom with Lenny Henry in it (to which I would only add any programme at all with Lenny Henry in it) and, er, The Archers. Hmm.
There's always a lot of anti-Archers talk around (mostly from people who don't listen to it), but I think it misses the point. Hard-core listeners like me (it's been in my life for six decades) know perfectly well that a lot of what goes out on The Archers is bad, even very bad, excruciatingly, infuriatingly bad - but that only adds to our listening pleasure. If ever there was a classic love-hate relationship, it's that between The Archers and its serious listeners. We love it because we hate it; we hate it because we love it. It's complicated.
How many times have I vowed never to listen again? After Nigel Pargeter's rooftop plunge, for sure (Wendy Cope has never listened since), and after John Archer's equally unnecessary death, after Ruth Archer's preposterous fling with a cowman, the ludicrous disappearance of Matt, further back the all-Ambridge coach trip to London for Gay Pride, led by Mrs Antrobus (anyone remember that?)... The list is endless, and sometimes I do actually stop listening for a while. But I always come back.
The Archers, unlike any other 'soap' (the term doesn't really apply), has a deep, felt continuity - nothing is forgotten; the past is always present. However ludicrously and inconsistently characters and plotlines swerve around, the gravitational field of this deep continuity always hauls them back. In musical terms, the 'ground' is so strong and persistent that the melodic lines can go where they will. They will come back. And so will we.
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It's worrying that the morning schedule for R4 now contains so many turn-offs. Libby Purves sounding too ingratiating on Midweek, Woman's Hour with its constant whingeing and victimhood, especially when chaired by Jenni Murray and You and Yours with its oh so dull content. I think I noticed Bryan Appleyard opining in a similar vein on Twitter recently.
ReplyDeletePS Facebook has great potentials. I administer an Arts/Music/Politics/Comment closed group called Salon de Southsea which has around 30 members. I have to confess to "sharing" some of your posts to add to the Art content. Much appreciated by some members.
ReplyDeleteR4 as sanctuary, where else is there to run to when, in a moment of madness, we have been listening to R2 and, at the stroke of 12.0 midday we realise that Vine is upon us, the BBCs very own Pansy Potter. We could of course tune in to Radio Borders and listen to the incessant traffic updates 'heavy in downtown Melrose, sluggish in Ancrum,' I think not. The only downside to R4 is the occasional broadcast that includes the uppity minx Victoria Coren. I would suppose that, out there somewhere, a particular strain of the male species will take some pleasure in the verbal lashings emanating from Mistress Jenni.
ReplyDeleteBlimey!
ReplyDeleteAfter a long time not listening, I happened to listen today & everything you say, Nigeness, is right, despite the fact that nowadays the plot leaps are often so startling that it is impossible to credit them unless you've been listening all along (for instance, I just absolutely cannot believe that Ruth ever had a fling with anyone - are you sure someone hasn't been slipping something into your tea? Nor can I believe the woman married to the man who fell off the roof had a fling with Roy, although friends insist that happened. Actually I still can't accept that Peggy Archer ended up married to Jack Wooley - that was definitely in an alternative dimension. Wasn't it?) In Australia they abolished a similar prog called Blue Hills years ago & it was such a mistake. One of the things I especially like is the way that you can talk about the Archers to all sorts of people you might have very little in common with - in other words it's a great way to make friends, or at least to oil tricky social gatherings, especially at times where alcohol isn't on hand to perform that role. I also like the way it can just be a soothing sound in the background, like the broadcasts we have in Australia of parliament and also like test match commentary, for me at least. None of these demand my full attention but they provide a soothing continuity. Which could lead me on to what a strangely comforting medium radio is generally and how oddly fond you grow of some presenters - which might lead me further into a discussion of Terry Wogan & his appeal, but I think there's been more than enough of that already.
ReplyDeleteHear hear - spot on! Thanks zmkc.
ReplyDeleteFor years I could take the madness and sadness - the tractor accident that took Tony's son; Sid's homophobia; Ruth's passion for herdsman Sam, stopping just short of the leg-over. Then one day I stumbled upon a picture of the cast standing in a semi-circle in the studio, with a pile of hay and a steel bucket in the foreground. From this image I have never recovered.
ReplyDeleteMay I draw your attention, MM, to that fine 'organisation' Archers Anarchists (the ultimate love-haters), whose watchword is 'The Archers is Real. There Is No Cast'. Once you accept that, you will never again fall prey to 'castism', and that will save you from further traumatic Ambridge experiences.
ReplyDeletei agree with you.archery is an complex matter.but i love archery.
ReplyDelete