People have been tuning in to hear rural tales from the fictional village of Ambridge for 75 years, but now the colourful characters of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers will be making their way on to the stage.
While the radio soap opera is the longest-running drama in the world, and depicts life in an English country village, it will next year tour as a “live theatrical experience”, set at the Ambridge Flower & Produce show.
There, fans will be able to take part in a pub quiz at the Bull, grill a BBC archivist with deep-cut trivia questions and sing along to the show’s theme tune.
Comedian Angela Barnes will host the live show and each performance will feature a rotating cast of Archers actors who will be announced in early 2026. Longstanding Ambridge favourites and newer voices from the drama will make an appearance.
The Archers is one of the BBC’s most popular programmes and is the top on-demand show for listeners of all ages on BBC Sounds, including among listeners under 35.
Barnes said: “I am not just an Archers superfan, I am obsessed with all things Ambridge. So to be asked to host The Archers: Live at 75 is like winning a prize at the Flower and Produce show and being cast as the lead in a Lynda Snell production, all rolled into one. I can’t wait to hang out with all of my favourite characters and really immerse myself in Borsetshire life.”
Alison Hindell, the drama and fiction commissioner at BBC Radio 4, said: “The Archers is one of the BBC’s most-loved programmes and we are tremendously proud of it as it reaches the astonishing broadcasting milestone of its 75th year. We hope that The Archers live show will give fans even more of what they love, joining in the celebrations with an extra slice of Ambridge life.”
James Albrecht and Serena Brett, the directors of Fane Productions, said: “Marking 75 years of The Archers is a rare privilege, and we’re thrilled to work with the BBC to create a live experience that honours the programme’s extraordinary legacy.
“Taking one of the BBC’s most precious and established brands, which has lived almost entirely in listeners’ imaginations, and working so closely with Angela, the editorial team, and the cast to make it leap out of the studio and on to the stage is a wonderfully fun creative challenge. We can’t wait to share this special experience with the audiences who’ve loved The Archers for generations.”
This is not the first time The Archers has left the medium of radio. In 2019, the Birmingham studios where The Archers is recorded was made open to fans, who were given the opportunity to recreate iconic scenes from the long-running drama.
They were also given a behind-the-scenes look at the show. Among the glamorous titbits they were made privy to were the collection of doorbells for each Archers’ property and the glass of small lego bricks used to recreate clinking ice cubes in the Bull.
Fane Productions, the company behind the long-running radio drama, said The Archers: Live at 75 will run from June to November 2026 at 29 venues, starting in Manchester, then hopping around the country, stopping in Oxford, Stockton-on-Tees and Glasgow, among other towns and cities, before ending in Wolverhampton.
