Ambridge Extra - New Zealand and afloat!
|11:28 AM, Friday, 10 August 2012
Having spent time in South Africa and on the road in the Lake District, our spin-off series Ambridge Extra now visits its furthest-flung destination yet. Between now and the end of the series on 6 September, we follow Kenton and Jolene on their trip to New Zealand.
The Characters
As well as Kenton and Jolene, we meet:
- Mel: Mel married Kenton in 1994 to help him stay and work in Australia. It grew into a love match, but the marriage fell apart after eight years.
- Meriel: Kenton's daughter, who of course he seldom sees.
- Aiden: Mel's new husband. He and Mel run an outdoor activities business.
- Lance: Mel and Kenton's former business partner. They ran a sailing charter business in Australia until Kenton returned to the UK in 2002.
- Lucy: Jolene is determined to visit the memorial to her husband SId, who died in New Zealand in 2010. But relations with Sid's daughter Lucy have always been difficult.
Photo gallery
You can view a photo gallery of cast and studio pictures.
Get on board
Several of the episodes are set on board a sailing yacht. Meriel is increasingly under the influence of her sporty (but non-sailing) step-father Aiden. So Kenton hopes the trip will re-kindle his relationship with his daughter.
I scripted the final six episodes, after taking the baton from my Archers colleague Caroline Harrington. The sea-going scenes were particularly fun to write, as I used to sail quite a bit. I qualified as a Day Skipper, which is rather lowly and way below the Yachtmaster ticket that Kenton, Mel and Lance possess. But I enjoyed applying my knowledge to getting the sailing technicalities as accurate as possible.
Not that you need to know anything about sailing to enjoy the episodes. It's just the background to a rollicking tale in which we learn a considerable amount about Kenton's colourful past Down Under.
Schedule
You can hear Ambridge Extra on BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2.15pm.
Omnibus edition: Sundays at 11.15am and 7.15pm
(and for night owls on Mondays at 2.15am)
You can also get it on BBC iPlayer, or as a free download (podcast).
Keri Davies is an Archers (and Ambridge Extra) scriptwriter and web producer.
- View the photo gallery
- Ambridge Extra programme page
- Picture shows a yacht anchored in the Bay Of Islands, New Zealand, and is used under licence.
Comment number 1.
At 03:21 11th Aug 2012, thebuckos wrote:I listen to The Archers from Auckland, New Zealand and am looking forward to hearing the goings on of Kenton and Jolene down under.
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Comment number 2.
At 09:16 11th Aug 2012, Suzie_G wrote:Looking forward to let slips, ready-abouts and the all important g & ts when safely moored (just the tonic for Meriel)
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Comment number 3.
At 13:26 13th Aug 2012, Keri Davies wrote:>I listen to The Archers from Auckland, New Zealand and am looking forward to hearing the goings on of Kenton and Jolene down under.
Mel and Aiden live in Auckland, so I hope I've got the local detail right!
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Comment number 4.
At 13:28 13th Aug 2012, Mustafa Grumble wrote:Keri thanks for this, but above all thank you so much for making the gallery of cast & studio photos *optional* rather than compulsory!
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Comment number 5.
At 11:58 20th Aug 2012, Keri Davies wrote:I'll make sure to do that in similar posts in the future.
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Comment number 6.
At 11:34 29th Aug 2012, Antanya wrote:what is the music played in between scenes in this part of AmEx?
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Comment number 7.
At 14:15 29th Aug 2012, Keri Davies wrote:Some of it is by the New Zealand band Crowded House. I think other bits are 'library music'.
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Comment number 8.
At 07:19 30th Aug 2012, Antanya wrote:Thank you! Crowded House, I thought it sounded familiar.
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Comment number 9.
At 10:08 5th Sep 2012, Katya wrote:Blimey, these episodes are more like a soap opera from the 80s than the Archers! Could it be any more histrionic?! Will it turn out to have all been a dream when they get back to Ambridge?
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Comment number 10.
At 12:51 8th Sep 2012, Jennie65 wrote:I noted elsewhere about the weather ... Hardly sailing weather this time of year in NZ!! Surely you would have to be nuts to organize a sailing holiday - must be freezing!
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Comment number 11.
At 10:20 10th Sep 2012, Keri Davies wrote:Not an ideal time of year, I agree, but it was Kenton's only chance to stake his claim for Meriel's affections.
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