Editor's Note: You can listen to Feedback online or download it here.
Tom Archer should never have gone to Canada.
Out of sight out of mind.
Now the actor who played him has tweeted that he will not be coming back; that, in effect, he has been sacked. Feedback listeners are not happy, as you can hear in this week’s programme.
It was clear from the beginning that the new editor of The Archers, in post for a year, was going to make changes. In an interview with this programme Sean O’Connor talked of Hardyesque parallels and of developing and deepening characters. Since when Carol Tregorran has returned to Ambridge (Hooray), Roy and Elizabeth have had a catastrophic affair, Rob has continued to subtly manipulate Helen until she is almost totally in his control, and Ruth and David are planning to leave for Northumbria - though I am not convinced that they will ever get there. Can the Archers exist without the Archers?
In my village I am surrounded by Archers fans, and while they differ widely about whether the changes should be happening they are listening more closely than before. It is not for me, as a neutral, or should that be neutered, presenter to express an overall view on the direction in which the soap is going but I do want to make a couple of observations.
First, that the way the Helen/ Rob relationship has been played out over a long period demonstrates the value of long running series. I find their situation totally believable and could willingly punch Rob in the face and tell Helen to wake up.
I don’t though find the David/Ruth move entirely plausible. What happens if her mother dies soon?, But I haven’t the faintest idea how it will all work out, which means of course that I keep listening.
We are trying to get Mr O Connor onto Feedback as soon as possible.
Meanwhile I had a real treat this week, meeting Kenneth Williams, or rather Robin Sebastian the man who plays him so superbly in the new Hancock’s half Hours. Can any comic actor have given his audiences so much pleasure while obtaining so little for himself? I suppose I could be talking about either Kenneth Williams or Tony Hancock. They both suffered from deep depression and both died alone, having taken overdoses. Thank heaven many of their recordings have survived, and that where they haven’t many of the scripts have. You can hear my interview with Robin Sebastian and the rest of the programme here.
Most of us are here today, gone tomorrow, but not Williams and Hancock. They are truly immortal, at least on radio.
Roger Bolton
Roger Bolton presents Feedback on Radio 4
