Tim Bentinck swapped the script for a charity donation

Regulars asked actor Tim Bentinck, who plays David Archer in the BBC Radio 4 series, asking to buy some scripts for a charity show performance.

In return for a donation to the NSPCC Mr Bentinck sent two scripts about life in Ambridge to the Cock Inn at Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.

But landlord Roger Collins was surprised when he found one was for a plot yet to be broadcast.

Innocent mistake

Mr Collins, 57, who has run the Cock for nine years, said: "We knew what was happening in The Archers before the rest of the country.

"The BBC even congratulated us on getting a scoop."

Archers producer Kate Oates conceded that the Cock's regulars had stolen a march on the rest of the listeners.

"It was an innocent mistake. As all Archers fans know, we try to keep all our storylines under wraps," she said.

"In this instance the audience at the pub got a sneak preview of what was to come."

The look into the future helped raise more than �900 for a hospice in the nearby village of Milton.

The episode Mr Bentinck sent to the pub involved character Siobhan Hathaway's car crash while travelling home from France. It was broadcast on 26 September.