The Archers: Live at 75
★★★★☆ Charming
Playhouse: Mon 5 Oct 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
The Archers: Live at 75, at the Playhouse for one night as part of an ongoing tour, is a fitting tribute to the ‘everyday story of country folk’. The BBC’s farming soap has run since 1 January 1951 (long before its current home of Radio 4 even existed) and clocked up over 20 000 episodes.
The programme’s legion of fans are well served by this entertainment, which contains elements of drama but is better classed as a celebration. It features Timothy Bentinck, who has played David Archer since 1982, Charlotte Martin (Susan Carter), who joined a year later, Annabelle Dowler (Kirsty Miller since the turn of the century) and Ben Norris, a relative newcomer who has been Ben Archer for a ‘mere’ eight years.
The Flower cast: Ben Norris, Timothy Bentinck, Charlotte Martin, Annabelle Dowler and Angela Barnes. Pic: Carsten Windhorst.
This is the ‘Flower’ cast in this two-cast tour. The second ‘Produce’ cast features on some dates, consisting of Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge), Ryan Kelly (Jazzer McCreary), Susie Riddell (Tracy Horrobin) and Sunny Ormonde (Lilian Bellamy).
The evening is chaired by stand-up comedian, panel show regular and self-confessed ‘Archers obsessive’ Angela Barnes, who provides context and anchors the whole thing with humour and diligence.
The Q&A sessions, as is traditional on such occasions, are often little more than an excuse to trot out favourite anecdotes in answer to questions such as ‘are you ever recognised because of your voice?’ However, these sections are well organised and enthusiastically received. Some of the information, such as the fact that cast members are only paid for the episodes they feature in (and might not be used for months at a time) will have come as a shock to many.
a one-off
There have been radio and television programmes that have been commemorated by theatre shows that were considerably less well thought-out, less complex and considerably worse value for money than this one. Here the temptation to trade on the audience’s goodwill has been firmly resisted; instead due consideration has been given to providing aficionados with a one-off experience.
For as well as the discussions with the performers, there are interactive elements such as an audience quiz (unusually, you are instructed to use your phone during this and other segments, which doesn’t lead to the chaos you might expect). There’s also a specially-written live episode set at the Ambridge Flower and Produce Show. This is cleverly written, gently humorous, and makes good use of the available cast (including Barnes as a guest judge at the show).
Live on air: Ben Norris, Timothy Bentinck, Charlotte Martin, Annabelle Dowler, Angela Barnes and Vanessa Nuttall. Pic: Carsten Windhorst.
This episode is performed much as the radio show would be recorded, with live sound effects courtesy of Vanessa Nuttall. Nuttall is the ‘spot studio manager’ and provides, live during recording of the radio show, what is often referred to as ‘Foley’ in the theatre in imitation of the movie term for sound effects.
Nuttall also explains how these effects are created, with a vintage ironing board that doubles as every gate in Ambridge, a bicycle pump fitted with a champagne cork, and much use of wet pasta and yogurt.
informative, entertaining and welcoming
It is often dangerous to let so much light in upon magic (just as it is a risk for the audience to see that the performers look nothing like the characters as they imagine them) but it is all done with such good grace and charm that few could object. Indeed, the love that the crowd have for the whole project is obvious, whether they are the handful who claim in an audience poll to have listened since the start, or the small minority who claim never to have listened to the Archers at all.
And both those groups would get a great deal from this live excursion, which is informative, entertaining and welcoming to all.
Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes (including one interval).
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18-22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA.
Monday 5 October 2026.
One performance: 7.30pm.
Run ended.
Tour tickets and details: Book here.
Vanessa Nuttall. Pic: Carsten Windhorst.
ENDS
