Postcard from Bishkek

I got a strange comment on my Facebook profile the other a little while ago.  Someone had noticed that I had clicked the “like” button on the Archers community page and  responded with the following comment:

Tum-te-tum-te-tum-te-tumm…. tum-te-tum-te-tumm-tumm

At least two of the seventy odd “friends” with whom I am connected on Facebook would have got the reference straight away, as they have also clicked that particular button, but I am sure that a large number of the others must have been confused by it.  Especially those here in Kyrgyzstan.

For those  not in the know … that’s a reference to the theme tune, “Barwick Green”, of the world’s longest running radio soap opera – no, I think it is actually the world’s longest running soap opera – period … in any format … not just the longest one on the radio.

It’s sixty years since the BBC started broadcasting what was originally billed as “an everyday story of country folk”.  As such, it’s older than me – but only just.  Even so, when I was growing up, I didn’t really take much notice of it.  I knew it existed, but that was about all.

It was when I was teaching in London that I became acquainted with the Archer clan, Dan and Doris and their brood of children: the twins Shula and Kenton, David and Ellizabeth, along with Tony Archer and his family and Aunt Peggy, … oh, and a host of other characters such as Uncle Tom Forrest and his wife Pru, (who, I think, has only ever made one actual appearance), the Carters and the Grundy’s.

You see, the programme is broadcast twice daily in 15-minute episodes, one episode in the evening which is repeated the following morning, and an omnibus edition collecting all the week’s episodes broadcast on Sunday morning.  Now, it just so happened that I used to get up on Sunday morning and deal with all the household chores.  Sometime around mid-morning I would be standing in the kitchen, bent over the ironing board and pressing all the newly washed laundry with the radio on in the background, just as the programme was being transmitted.  At first, I don’t think I really listened to it … at least, not consciously.    It was just there … in the background … a sort of “muzac”.   I suppose that I just, sort of, absorbed the characters and the plot line by a process of osmosis.  Whatever, I found those Sunday mornings refreshing relaxing and, in a way, quite compelling.

When I came here, of course, there was none of that.  On my occasional visits home I would be able to listen to a few episodes and catch up on the goings on in the village but that was about it.  Then, a few years ago, I discovered that the episodes were available as a podcast and I have been downloading my daily dose of the “contemporary drama in a rural setting” ever since.

On those brief visits home I found that I could quickly get into the new twists of the storyline as if nothing had really changed and as if I hadn’t been away.  In fact, however, things had changed quite considerably.  If the original concept had been to develop a semi-educational programme, to present Ministry of Agriculture propaganda in an entertaining format, (one farmer’s leader called it a “farming Dick Barton” in a reference to the BBC’s first daily serial, “Dick Barton – Special Agent” … which was “before my time” in that I never really heard it), then the introduction of many new characters and plot lines addressing a variety of contemporary issues, (racism, bankruptcy, women vicars, organic farming, sexuality,  vandalism … even the uses of social media like Facebook).   The twists and turns of the plot became more complex and intertwined and developed much quicker than they used to.  New characters have been introduced, some have moved into the village whilst others have been born into it, grown up in it, fallen in love and married in it, become ill, (one has succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease) and some have passed away.

As the old newspaper advertising slogan put it, “All human life is there!”

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Listening to the podcast, I am actually in good company – well, at least, I am part of a very large audience.  Not only is the programme the most listened to non-news programme on the Radio 4 network, it holds the a record for the number of times it is listened to over the Internet, with over one million listeners.

Over the years a number of celebrities, including royalty, have been more than happy to make a guest appearance.

Perhaps the importance of the show can best be illustrated by the fact that after an indecisive General Election, on May 11th last year, with the resulting uncertainty, the possibility of a hung Parliament and urgent negotiations between the various parties trying to form a coalition government, the BBC dedicated almost all the air time from five o’clock onwards to post-election news.  Many programmes were cancelled or postponed and rescheduled, but not “The Archers” … at approximately two minutes past seven, that night’s episode was broadcast as scheduled.

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Well, as I sat and listened to the podcast of Sunday’s episode, it seemed to last longer than usual … although I wasn’t really concentrating, it was still a case of  just playing “in the background” … like muzak.  I had somehow missed out on the build up that has been going on back in the UK for the special anniversary edition, and it was only when I was scanning the news channels this evening that it hit me … it had been longer than usual … it was a double “jubilee” episode.  It was also more dramatic with a number of storylines culminating in conclusions or crises.

Stuck out here in Kyrgyzstan, I haven’t been exposed to the plane crash and violent storms of Emmerdale, the fatal tram crash of Coronation Street which led to special news programmes on ITV reporting the event as if it was a real catastrophe, the burning of the Old Vic Pub in East Enders, or any of the other dramatic incidents used to hype up and promote soaps when they reach a nadir in popularity or pass a particular record.

Looking back on it with a sense of hindsight, I can see how the scriptwriters have been building up to a crescendo … and on the whole, I think they did a good job.  Then again, I am stuck here and haven’t really been aware of the hype – which, according to all the coverage I have seen on-line, which built up expectations which weren’t fulfilled for many fans.

Don’t misunderstand me.  I don’t want Nigel to die as a result of his fall off the roof of the ancestral home, Pargetter Hall, any more than I wanted any of the more obnoxious characters to disappear – they are all important to the developments of the storyline no matter how ridiculous and unreal they might sometimes appear.  On the other hand, the writers did craft and interweave a variety of contemporary issues into an interesting and, almost, compelling  denouement … for a soap opera, which is a fantasy world in itself.

As far as I was concerned it was just another episode in a long running saga – a bit like a modern British version of something like Odyssey … or, (at the risk of upsetting my Kyrgyz friends by the comparison), the Manas epic.

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I have sometimes thought that the programme could easily be transferred by the BBC out here.  They have a Kyrgyz service and I think it would prove just as popular here as it has over the years in the UK.  The format of the programme has apparently been successfully used in a number of countries – particularly in such an unlikely setting as war torn Afghanistan.  Soap operas have proved popular all over the world including in some very surprising environments.

Radio is apparently quite popular here, especially in the rural regions, which is littered with small, tightly knit communities.  Following a the affairs of a fictional community as it comes to terms with a variety of dilemmas which arise in the modern world, might be a useful way to explore those very issues.

Tags: Expat, Reminiscences