The Archers will return next week with the actors performing soliloquies instead of talking to each other as lockdown takes hold in Ambridge
- The long-running Radio 4 soap has been on hiatus due to coronavirus
- Editor Jeremy Howe had to scrap 12 scripts and five weeks of storylines
- It will return with a smaller cast recounting the day’s events to themselves
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Characters in The Archers will no longer speak to each other because of coronavirus, with the actors instead performing soliloquies.
The long-running Radio 4 soap will see the cast talk to themselves as they recount the day’s events.
Each episode will only feature a few characters as bosses seek to limit interaction during the pandemic.
Changing with the times: The long-running BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers will return next week with the characters performing soliloquies
A spokesman told The Telegraph: ‘Instead of multiple characters interacting, each episode will have fewer characters who will be sharing more of their private thoughts with the listener.’
The show’s editor Jeremy Howe has revealed 12 scripts and five weeks of storylines had to be scrapped as production was halted.
He said as the pandemic took hold, it felt less like recording in Ambridge and ‘more like fighting the Battle of the Alamo’.
Back on the air: Each episode will only feature a few characters as bosses seek to limit interaction during the pandemic
The BBC drama is currently on hiatus while actors record new episodes from their makeshift studios at home.
But it will return to the airwaves next week with the actors performing their long speeches to themselves.
Writing in the Radio Times, Howe said: ‘We had to start from scratch, and we had to figure out a new way to make The Archers so that everything – absolutely everything – could be done remotely. It was probably the biggest challenge the programme has ever had to face.’
The first episode will air on May 25 and will only feature David, Josh, Tracy and Harrison.
Howe said: ‘I don’t think I have ever witnessed such creative ingenuity, such dedication to the spirit of “the show must go on” in my working life, and the way the production team, the cast and the writers have risen to this challenge has been, frankly, humbling.’
New episodes will air at 7pm every day except Friday, so listeners will be treated to four a week instead of the pre-pandemic six.
Adapting: The BBC drama is currently on hiatus while actors record new episodes from their makeshift studios at home