The Archers turns 70

Programme assistant Gill Powell taped Grange Farm’s turkey chicks, printed Phil Drabble’s Nature Notes – and made one awful mistake

- Phil Drabble

In 1989, in a BBC Pebble Mill boardroom, I walked into a job interview unlike any other. I was asked, ‘What car does Eddie Grundy drive?’, ‘Name Peggy’s cat’ and ‘On a romantic night in, what music would Shula and Mark listen to?’

For a 20-something undergraduate who listened twice a day to The Archers, and again to the Sunday omnibus, it was a dream come true.

I landed the role of programme assistant. A few years later, in 1991, I helped celebrate their 40th anniversary. On 1st January 2021, this radio institution will be 70.

During my first week, producer Niall Fraser introduced me to the cast, with a warning: ‘Never call the actors by their character name.’

A white-haired chap, immaculate in a cream suit, looked me up and down. ‘And who the hell are you?’ muttered the inimitable voice of my favourite character, Nelson Gabriel, played by Jack May.

‘I’m Gill,’ I said. ‘You must be Jack.’

His eyes twinkled; an unexpected friendship was formed. It was always a joy to spot him and the fabulous Margot Boyd (Mrs Antrobus) in the BBC Club, tucking into egg and chips, washed down with a wee dram or two. Mollie Harris (Martha Woodford) presented the production team with bottles of her home-made sloe gin every Christmas.