Kirstie Allsopp, Carole Boyd (Lynda Snell) and Timothy Bentinck (David Archer)
Fallon is getting very excited because her upcycling heroine Kirstie Allsopp will be opening the Ambridge village fete this Sunday. And Kirstie herself is pretty excited too, as you can see by the retweet from her Twitter account.
I grabbed a couple of minutes with her during the very busy recording session for the episode (which, by chance, is one that I wrote).
How long have you been listening to The Archers.
When I became self-employed in 1995, that’s when I started listening very regularly. I became a passionate Radio 4 listener. I remember when The Archers moved to 2pm, there was a big debate. And I was very involved in that because my lunch hour was 45 minutes of the World at One and then The Archers.
What keeps you listening nowadays?
I’m very committed to the characters. I do feel I know them. I’m not alone in this, obviously. When Nigel died, I was genuinely upset. I did cry and I have cried at other points. You just feel you’re part of these characters’ lives.
My mother , who died in January, always listened. I used to genuinely think that my parents walked up the aisle to The Archers theme tune!
I love to cook but I don’t get much of a chance Monday to Friday if it’s during the school term and I work. So I like to do some cooking on Sunday morning and I’ll listen to the Omnibus. Then often I’d ring up my mum and we’d have conversations about it.
What’s it been like actually being part of The Archers?
Incredibly exciting, wonderful. It’s been so fascinating but also discombobulating because you’re hearing voices that you know so well.
Obviously Ambridge doesn’t exist. But my first exposure to how people feel about it was when I worked for Country Living magazine. The BBC sent out ‘invitations’ to Nigel and Lizzie’s wedding. It was a very clever thing to do. One of the most brilliant PR things I’ve ever seen for any organisation. Loads of senior people in the office got them. And they sat there chatting about what they were going to wear, their hats, the whole thing. It was extraordinary.
So it’s been a bit of a surreal experience?
Yes. I feel like I got on the bus to go to Ambridge and here I am.
Keri Davies is an Archers scriptwriter and web producer
Listen to Kirstie’s visit to Ambridge from Sunday 27 July onwards
Learn more about Fallon – and the actor who plays her – in our Who’s Who
