BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.

Subject: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 06:17 AM

Although my 'Archers' listening days are long in the past, I recall one of the characters (Walter Gabriel, I think, though it may have been Tom Forrest)pleading with others to be a little bit 'haysum-jaysum' (spell it how you like), meaning reasonable, sensible. Has anyone in the even realler world ever heard this phrase used? Does it belong to Warwickshire, where I believe the Archers were set, or was it a script-writers' fiction?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Schantieman
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 07:20 AM

Baint be Warwickshire. Tis Borsetshire, between Worcs & Gloucs. Or thereabouts.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 08:13 AM

Ambridge has an extraordinary range of accents and dialects.
They truly celebrate diversity there.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 08:14 AM

Schantieman, make sure our boat has a good wireless please.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 10:10 AM

If you turned on the Archers on my boat I'd... I'd..... maroon you.... I'd set you adrift with three days biscuit and water....

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Darowyn
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 10:53 AM

I work at the real world equivalent of Borchester Tech, and my colleague on the next desk to mine comes from the village on which Ambridge is based.
I can tell you that the accent is accurately North Worcestershire, but I've never heard anyone say "aysum, jaysum"
Sam Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings film is very close to a Worcestershire accent too.
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 09:30 AM

Which particular character has a N Worcs accent? There seems to me plenty of variety.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 02:28 PM

I HAVE to ask this... which village is Ambridge based on?

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 03:50 PM

Ah ! me old pal, me old beauty.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 06:14 PM

So -- which village????

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: The Walrus
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 09:19 PM

I thought they based the Borsetshire accent on that of Mummerset.

W

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Ythanside
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 09:32 PM

Well, Oi baint be the one to tell who, but Oi 'eard it from one o' the Archers' longest servin' actors in person that even the cast themselves ain't absolutely sure as to where they're supposed to be. They just 'ave to decide on an accent an' stick with it.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 27 Jan 08 - 10:12 AM

At last! A mainstream TV drama has managed a completely authentic and accurate Suffolk accent! Trouble is, it was in 'Lark Rise to Candleford'..........

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 06:06 AM

WARNING ,THREAD CREEP: Each new year we go to my in-laws and go to see the pantomime at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. One of the regular cast includes in his CV: "plays Chris Mills in the Archers". Herself is an Archers fan but can remember no such character and who doesn't appear in any of the Archers books she's seen. Any fans know, or is it an in-joke (like Pru's silence).

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Splott Man
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 07:35 AM

Inkberrow, TRUBRIT

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: GUEST,Darowyn
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 08:14 AM

Splott Man speaks truth, Inkberrow.
The thing about accents here is that it is a border area, culturally.
Just to the North West , the accent is distinctly Black Country, to the North East, Brummie. A few miles east and you are into the rural burr of Warwickshire and the Vale of Evesham, and to the South is Worcester itself which is where West Country accents start. South East you have The Cotswolds and the Oxfordshire way of speaking. Further West, Herefordshire and the Borders sound definitely Welsh.
Add in the fact that Worcestershire, and the Malverns are a popular retreat from London an the site of many Public Schools, and that high-tech industries attract people from all over the country, and you have the basis for my statement that the accents you hear on the Archers are authentically North Worcestershire.
Cheers
Dave
(PS. I know two people locally, one liveing next door, who speak Ruth Archer Geordie)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: theleveller
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 08:23 AM

Accents seem very much to split down 'class' lines. The 'nobs' have nauseating wha-wha accents ("Oh Braahn, it's absolutely frightful") - even the Indian solicitor talked like this - whilst the 'oiks' have impossibly bucolic oooh-aaarh accents. The exceptions are the odd outsiderlike Matt Crawford, Jack Wolley and, of course, the wonderful Ruth.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: The PA
Date: 28 Jan 08 - 10:02 AM

I belive the Archers 'area' to be a mix of many local places not just Inkberrow. Such as, Ambridge - Hanbury, Borset - Bromsgrove, Lakey Hill - Lickey Hills, and bits of Feckenham too. But I could be wrong (but only slightly). The Bull is certainly based on the Old Bull in Inkberrow. And for some parts of 'North Worcestershire' read 'South Birmingham' like it or not.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 05:45 AM

Since Mike and Vicky enjoy dancing, and have gone to Brittany, maybe they will discover a Fest Noz.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 07:02 PM

Good Old Fat B****d,

Aaar me old pal , me old beauty....The ghost of Tony Hancock just made a surprise visit to Mudcat ,Old Dan. Aaar.

I saw Hancock when he came to OZ...it was all very sad . He was not a shade of his former self ( but by then he had dismissed his writers Simpson and Galton, fallen out with Sid etc etc )

AD 1943

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 Sep 09 - 02:08 PM

Dreadful News !! One of the Members of the Board of Borchester Land is MARTIN GIBSON !!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 02 Sep 09 - 07:40 PM

Actually it's based in Inkberrow where they have photos all over the walls to prove it!

The accent is nothing like anyone speaks around there, in Gloucestershire, or even Herefordshire. Heaven only knows where Eddie Grundy gets his from!

sal

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 02:43 AM

Can't think what comment above-a-few from Rusty Dobro back in 2008 meant about tv 'Lark Rise To Candleford' having 'authentic Suffolk accent' — it was supposed to be set in Oxfordshire.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: IanC
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 08:35 AM

I think the original "Archers" accent is based on Bob Arnold's own accent (he played Tom Forrest and for years provided the intro and outro narrations). I quote from the "Independent" obituary ...

BOB ARNOLD was the last authentic countryman in the BBC's everyday story of country folk ... It was his voice which recommended him to Godfrey Baseley, the creator of The Archers, as the introducer of the weekly Sunday omnibus, and it was through this role that he somehow came to epitomise the programme.

As for the accent, Bob was born near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Being the son of a publican, he learned vast numbers of folk songs as a child and was a noted folk singer (including recording LPs of folk songs) till he died.

George Richard ("Bob") Arnold, actor: born Asthall, Oxfordshire 27 December 1910; married 1948 Dorothy Coleridge (died 1990; one daughter); died Salisbury, Wiltshire 27 August 1998.

Does this bring the thread above the line???

;-)
Ian

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Splott Man
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 11:11 AM

Did Usha & Alan, and subsequently the Snells run into Tom & Barbara Brown while they were in Combe Martin?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 03 Sep 09 - 12:14 PM

Fans of 'The Simpsons' may like to note that Walter Gabriel perfected the use of the exclamation 'Doh!' as a 'catchphrase' many years before Homer.

Walter's version was deeper-pitched and much more bucolic. There was the same sense of frustration in the sound, though.

I ought to get out more.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 06:13 AM

The main requirement for an 'Ambridge' accent is that it should be sufficiently different from the other characters, so that the listeners know who is speaking - that's why Helen has been given an Australian boyfriend, whether she wanted him or not.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 09:47 AM

Guest, Topsie; an excellent point, and one I hadn't thought of before.
That said, there is a character in the current cast (can't remember the name, sorry)played by an actor whose voice is a dead ringer for that of the bloke who plays Brian Aldridge. Most confusing.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 11:53 AM

I've just remembered the character in question's name. It's Oliver. Brian and Oliver sound like one and the same person. To me, at any rate.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 01:27 PM

Why don't they have singarounds and sessions in The Bull. Don't the script writers know it's wot we do in the country?

sal

Subject: RE: BS: 'Archers' (UK radio soap) - dialect.
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 02:37 PM

They do have morris dancers at the Bull on Bank Holidays!

At one time, IIRC, I think Roger Watson got involved in the scripts, and Caroline and Nelson Gabriel went up to the Lake District and heard some hunting songs....

Oliver is played by Michael Cochrane, who also played a very nasty piece of work in Sharpe.

Brian is played by Charles Collingwood, who does an occasional turn on Just a Minute, and who, very confusingly, is married to Judy Bennett who plays Shula Archer-Hebden-Lloyd....

Kitty