The Archers review — I’m still addicted to this old favourite

I am not without sympathy for the fact that the pandemic caught the programme-makers on the hop, and then The Archers proved a more cumbersome agricultural vehicle to turn around than Jeremy Clarkson’s Lamborghini tractor. It was not until June 1 last year that Emma Grundy fretted about home schooling, by which point I had been at the kitchen chalkface for the worst part of two months. Meanwhile, that resident Job Kirsty’s modern slavery storyline trundled on and on. What provoked me to cut myself adrift, however, was the tin-eared storyline of Susan Carter becoming a presenter on Radio Borsetshire. From then on The Archers united my own family in lockdown: long after forsaking Joe Wicks, we could still get a spurt on to switch radio stations at the first dumteedum of Barwick Green.

Radio listening is the most habitual form of media consumption. A mid-morning move from the overworked land of Ambridge has often struck green pasture. We have enjoyed Graham Norton on Virgin, Radio 5 Live’s summer of sport. On Radio 6 Music Cerys Matthews is continually questing and enlightening.

However, like someone who chucked a boyfriend only to discover they missed his mates, I have pined for the programming that follows The Archers Omnibus: Desert Island Discs or The Reunion; The Food Programme; I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue or Just a Minute. From Broadcasting House through to The World This Weekend, it’s one of British radio’s strongest scheduling line-ups, my Sunday best for decades. So, last week, I did not switch but listened instead to the sorry saga of Alice’s alcoholism on The Archers Omnibus (still four episodes instead of the pre-pandemic six). Alice and Chris have always sounded more like kids playing house than a credible couple (“a starter marriage” was her snobbish parents’ memorable response to their Vegas wedding).

While not wholly convinced by Alice’s dipso descent, what I did find believable was the blind panic and pain of her parents when she quit rehab. In a strong recent episode Brian Aldridge (Charles Collingwood) confided to Eddie how awfully Alice had behaved en route to rehab. Here he wheeled and bellowed like a proud animal, beaten. I bet I was not the only person prepping Sunday lunch shouting, “But what about your baby?” at the radio. I suppose I’m an Archers addict in recovery, still at some risk of becoming hooked again, if only because I miss the rest of the Sunday morning schedule.

A reward for staying the course was the nature writer and self-effacing public intellectual Robert Macfarlane on Desert Island Discs. To my ears the presenter Lauren Laverne still does not sound as authoritative as previous incumbents of this spot. Her questions sometimes sound read-out, effortful, whereas what is so attractive about her 6 Music presenting is her ease with the music and her audience. When Macfarlane spoke of his nihilistic impulses as a young climber, I wanted her to press him further and ask what changed for him?

Since next week will be too late, can I recommend that you wake up to winners with Radio 5 Live’s Olympic Breakfast. The UK-Tokyo Games time lag means that by 7am there is usually medal news but also thrilling activities going on concurrently. Conveying the adrenaline with hysterically hyperventilating gusto are the veteran commentators Steve Bunce and John Hunt. Mark Chapman and Rachel Burden are in the studio, bouncing from arena to arena and bringing moving background stories. It will put a smile on your face.