Indulge me: think not of The Archers as the annoying Radio 4 soap you switch off at the very hint of its aggressively cheerful theme tune, or even as the addictive anchor to your week.
Consider it, rather, as an experimental long-form drama, one that unfurls at the same heartbeat pace as our own lives. The Archers has been running since New Year’s Day, 1951. It is the longest-running soap opera in the world. Characters – and actors – are born, mature, age, and die in it, at the same pace as listeners’ own lives.
