The Archers

BBC Radio 4

4.4 (979)
Drama
Daily

Contemporary drama in a rural setting.

21h ago

04/11/2026

Anna is meeting Helen at the Tearoom. The auction valuer came round to Glebe cottage and her Dad’s Georgian furniture isn’t worth much as no one wants brown furniture. They move onto the complaint against Alan. Anna says there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute so the complaint was all she could do. Fallon interrupts the conversation saying she doesn’t believe Alan is taking advantage of anyone vulnerable. Anna becomes annoyed because why was this confidential investigation the topic of conversation in the pub? At Lower Loxley, Lily is checking on the pop-up café in the gallery when Fallon apologies for yesterday. She really wants to work with Lily to make the workshop programme work but of course Lily has a lot on her plate. Lily becomes teary. She can’t help but open up about everything she has to do to keep Lower Loxley going. When Fallon asks if there’s anyone to help Lily, Lily says there’s only so much family can do. She’s worried her mum’s depression will come back. Fallon offers to help with Deck-the-Hall to take some of the stress. Alan and Neil are planning Alan’s visits to parishioners. He’s sorry Neil has the hassle of having to chaperone him. Anna bursts into the church calling for Alan. Anna states the Clergy’s code of practice says any attempt to put pressure on the complainant is improper, so why is Alan going around currying favour in Ambridge. Alan tries to explain but Neil interrupts saying the two of them shouldn’t even be talking. Alan asks Neil to tell the Archdeacon what happened
1d ago

03/11/2026

Alistair and Denise are inspecting a wounded cow. Esme says they got injured in the storm. She confesses the cost of a call out put her off but the cow started lying down a lot. Alistair calmly explains unfortunately it’s too late, the kindest option is to put her down. Esme apologies for not staying till the end. Alistair says the cow felt nothing. Esme laments about the costs, she should have called them out when it first happened. Alistair takes pity on her and says he won’t invoice for the visit. Denise says head office won’t be happy. Alistair says they don’t need to know. Alan asks Lily about Vince, before waving Fallon over. Fallon says she needs to talk to Lily about the workshop programme. Lily says to find her in the office and heads off. Alan apologises, forgetting things might be awkward between them. Fallon tries to ask Alan about something she heard in The Bull, but he rushes off. Lily’s on the phone to Harrison, she quickly ends the call when Fallon arrives. Lily’s not sure how much help she’ll be, but Elizabeth won’t be back for a while. The storm means all the plans must change. Fallon says they can’t just fire her. Lily must go meet the fire inspector, saying she’ll think about it. In the Bull, Alistair is shocked to hear that Alan is coming to the Orchard on Thursday. Alan wonders why and Fallon says there’s a rumour going around. Alan complains about the insinuation of his motives for visiting lonely people when it’s a vicar’s job!
2d ago

02/11/2026

Lily catches her mum leaving to visit the hospital. Lily says she’s coming, everything is under control with Lower Loxley. At the hospital, Vince is upbeat and starts praising Lily for all the work she’s done to help Elizabeth. He asks about how all the repairs are going. Lily is hopeful they will reopen soon, but Elizabeth has her doubts. Vince suddenly has a twinge and suggests Elizabeth goes and gets a coffee. Vince asks Lily how her mum is really doing. He says that sitting up gave him jolts of pain and he nearly passed out, he just doesn’t want Elizabeth fretting. In the car, Elizabeth says she knows Vince is putting on a front. She needs Lily to not worry about her, and to focus on Lower Loxley for Elizabeth. As they search for Susan’s casserole dish, Tracy moans about Jazzer’s obsession with not paying for the fence. She thinks the housing association will say it’s their fence in the end anyway. Susan becomes distracted and says she really shouldn’t tell Tracy this: Anna has accused Alan of stealing her mom’s money. Tracy brings the missing dish to the shop to return it. She starts gossiping about Alan and the village fete unaware that Usha is there. Usha questions how Tracy knows about this confidential investigation. Usha is frustrated by the accusation and knows the Archdeacon made it clear this was a sensitive matter. She’s disappointed they would gossip openly about it.
3d ago

01/11/2026

Alan is just trying to get through his Sunday duties. Usha laments how much of people’s time will be wasted before the formal complaint against Alan is dismissed. Alan says he hopes it will be dismissed, but talking about it won’t speed it up. He’s just grateful he can still do his job. As Alan gets into his cassock, he chats to Neil who has arrived to chaperone him. Alan knows Neil has been given an important safeguarding task and wants to make this as painless as possible. When Alan goes to get the plate, Neil says he’s changed the code and asks Alan to leave the room. During Alan’s sermon, Usha tries to get sympathy out of Neil who takes his duty seriously. Later Alan tells Usha he got to try to rise above the complaint. At No. 6 The Green, Jazzer is trying to prop up the old fence panels. Tracy says the posts are too rotten. Tracy just wants to buy new panels to sort it quickly. Jazzer says they don’t even know the fence is theirs, and Helen is just trying to put the bill on them. Jazzer rambles about how Helen even made Brad pay for driving in her gate. Tracy tries to help him but the panels fall over, revealing Helen who has been listening to the whole conversation. Helen says she thought the housing association would pay, but Jazzer says he’s not even sure it is their fence. Jazzer is convinced that Helen knows it’s not their fence, but he needs proof.
5d ago

30/10/2026

Returning to Ambridge, Jazzer and Tracy look at all the damage the storm has caused. Tracy becomes emotional at the spot where the tree nearly injured Chelsea. At least Pip and Stella were able to go on their honeymoon. They’re unloading their suitcases when Helen approaches. She asks how their holiday was, before pointing out that a couple of fence panels have blown across the garden damaging some plant pots. Helen says she’ll leave it with Jazzer and Tracy to fix. Jazzer says isn’t it her boundary? The Archdeacon arrives to talk to Alan. Alan welcomes him to the Vicarage, offering cake. The Archdeacon says he’s here in an official capacity as a formal complaint has been made about Alan. Alan maintains he has done nothing wrong. He didn’t know that Carol had transferred the money. The Archdeacon says that’s not the point of this meeting. Alan says Anna is riddled with guilt. The Archdeacon cuts him off saying they should use neutral language: the complainant and the deceased. Alan laughs – does that make him the accused? The Archdeacon asserts he’s here to explain how this will be dealt with by the diocese. Alan becomes upset and says he’s innocent. The Archdeacon says they have to refer the complaint to Adult Social Services and there will be interim safety plan. Alan won’t be able to handle collection boxes or the plate on Sunday. He won’t be able to visit any parishioner unaccompanied. Alan has to sign to say he agrees to these terms.
6d ago

29/10/2026

George arrives at Little Grange to check if Keira has gone to school. He offers to give her a lift, but Keira says the bus is fine. George says it is if she was actually going to school. Keira says all that time in A&E tired her out, and George points out they couldn’t find anything actually wrong with her. George makes her a cup of tea and forces her to talk. She says he’s being horrible. He argues that Will was in a state yesterday and it took an hour to calm him down; Keira knows what happened to Nic and isn’t a kid anymore. Keira says she didn’t mean to panic Will, she just hates school. She can’t bear it. George tries to question why she doesn’t want to go to school. He threw away the opportunities school gave him, and he doesn’t want Keira to do the same. At Rewilding, Martyn Gibson is demanding copies of all the files relating to tree maintenance. He says if there is a claim, they’ll need to prove that BL and Rewilding Ambridge are completely in the clear. Martyn says he tried to visit Vince but got turned away, as did Alan. Rex stalls handing over the files saying he doesn’t know all the passwords. Martyn says they can just call Kirsty to get them. Martyn detects that Rex is being obstructive. Rex confesses that the problem tree was due an inspection, but shoulders the blame saying it was his fault that the inspection was forgotten. Martyn barely controls his anger before leaving. Rex calls Helen in a panic. Helen says he has to tell Kirsty, but Rex says her blood pressure is through the roof and he doesn’t want to add to it. Rex says he will take the fall for the omission.
Oct 28

28/10/2026

Zainab thinks her dad is avoiding her. Azra says he’s just on a plumbing job in Penny Hassett. Zainab says she can protect herself and that she’s already dealt with racism, recently from Lawrence at the golf club. Azra says she might have to arrest people she’s sympathetic to, but Zainab says she’s hardly the first Muslim woman to join the police. Azra says she would be the first in the family, to which Zainab points out their cousin Usman is a detective. Later, Azra says they’ll support Zainab’s decision. Will is driving Keira to school as she doesn’t want anyone seeing her on the bus and knowing she’s having to take catch-up classes. Will tells Keira to wave to Alan as they pass but she says there’s something going on with him. News that he got chucked out of Carol’s funeral has spread. Keira says she’s got a headache and pleads with Will to pull over. Will gives her water and painkillers, but Keira says she just needs to lie down. Will wants to check her cuts aren’t sore. One looks particularly red, so Will says they should go to A&E. In the surgery, Elizabeth has come in for an appointment as she’s scared her depression will come back. Between Vince being relentlessly upbeat, Freddie trying to hold down the abattoir and Lily micromanaging, she confesses she feels fragmented and is having panic dreams. Azra asks if Elizabeth always puts this much pressure on herself. Azra advises they start with counselling. She’ll put a list together of counsellors.
Oct 27

27/10/2026

Ed calls Storm a “little bruiser” whilst George recounts some of Will’s storm puns. Keira pulls a face at having to go to catch-up classes during half term. Storm then needs changing, getting them off the topic of school. As Ed double checks Keira has everything, she becomes teary and begs not to go. Keira says she’s getting flashbacks and can’t be around people. She pleads for one more day at home to recover as Ed says he’ll call the surgery. Ed and Emma agree she must go in tomorrow but can have today off. George says he’ll teach Keira how to change Storm’s nappy as payment. Confused, Keira plays dumb, but George says he knows she’s just skiving. At Rewilding Ambridge, Helen’s checking on Peggy’s artwork. It has survived. Helen is chatting whilst Rex’s mind is clearly elsewhere. He asks if there’s any news about Vince, but Helen’s vague update brings him no relief. Kirsty arrives, to Rex’s surprise. She’s meant to be resting but has grown bored. Helen says they could grab a smoothie later. Rex had said he would call Kirsty with an update, but he hasn’t. She quizzes him. Rex repeats that everything’s fine and says it’s just boring paperwork, nothing to interrupt Kirsty’s rest. Rex promises he’ll tell Kirsty if anything important comes up. Kirsty goes for a stroll around Rewilding. Helen asks Rex what’s wrong as he’s clearly the worst liar. Rex is worried about the tree that fell on Vince and how it was meant to be booked by Kirsty for an inspection.

See All (268)

Emma Vallency Freud

Host

4.4

out of 5

979 Ratings

Reunited

Oct 19

Beatr1ce

I am French and lived in England for 29 years, I was hooked to the Archers the last 10 years before I left to come and live in America ; ( one of my favourite part of Sundays was to listen to the omnibus while preparing Sunday lunches) Unfortunately didn’t listen to them for the last 8 years but really missed the show.. a few weeks ago I found it again!! I’m so happy to hear all those familiar voices again. It’s like I have finally been reunited with some old friends 🙂
Sentimental

12/24/2025

Solomoriah

I lived in Scotland for 17 years and loved listening to the Archers on Radio 4. I moved to the States and missed it for a few years, until I started listening to podcasts and voila! It’s great to listening again and the calmer way of life in the village (mostly!). It’s a tonic for today’s increasingly hostile, angry, divided world.
Long time listener!

06/12/2025

letitia posthuma

The last thing I listen to before bed. Absolutely the best !! 😍
A British institution

05/27/2025

lemondrop2020

The Archers is a radio program that has been going on for decades. My grandparents listened to it religiously everyday on the radio and I continue to do so just via the podcast format. Some storylines are better than others but it is a wonderful tradition to hold onto and is a constant way that I connect with my family members that are both alive and have passed.