The '80s Archers Part Two: The Creation Of Lynda Snell

The 1980s saw Ambridge bidding farewell to several legendary old favourites - Doris Archer (1980), Aunt Laura (1985), Dan Archer (1986) and Walter Gabriel (1988) - but the decade saw the arrival of some new favourites, one of these being a certain Mrs Lynda Snell. Snobby Lynda was, at first sight (or rather on first hearing!) frankly quite unbearable - she would interfere! - but over the years moments of kindness and sensitivity and the enjoyability of her being a character we could at times love to hate, saw us listeners taking Lynda to our hearts.

Actress Carole Boyd was no stranger to BBC radio soap, having been in the Radio 2 saga Waggoners' Walk, as miserable Shirley Edwards, wife of the fiery Cliff. But Lynda was absolutely nothing like Shirley (she was rather common, old Shirl!) and I was very impressed at Miss Boyd's acting skills in playing two such widely differing characters so convincingly.

Interviewed a few years ago by the BBC, Miss Boyd revealed the origins of Mrs Snell...

'It was back in the mid-'80s, 1986, and the producer then was Liz Rigbey... she was new to the programme and she wanted, I think, to reflect the mid-'80s, the time of yuppies going off into the country and teaching people - TRYING to teach people - how to run their lives, etc. So, she invented this couple called the Snells and not a lot was known about them. I mean, we all auditioned, there was myself and probably about a dozen other actresses and the letter that came to say "This is what we want to do, this is the sort of people they are," was very uninformative really. It just said in the letter Robert is a thrusting computer whizz kid and Lynda's probably a doormat. And I thought, hmm, I don't want to be a doormat! But at the same time, of course, everyone was watching the television soaps, so we were all watching Dallas and Dynasty and Neighbours, I think, had come in, so suddenly there was a frenzy in the nation for more and more soap operas and I think people suddenly realised that we had our own home-grown one ticking away for years-  and the publicity that went with that - suddenly the interest rocketed as a spin-off from the television interest. 

'So I went into the audition thinking "I'm going to make her unpleasant" and the audition scene was between Eddie Grundy and this woman, unknown at the time, who pops up from behind a hedge to see Eddie doing something disgusting to a small furry creature, you know, disembowelling, something really countryish, and is horrified and takes him to task. And so I did it like that, bearing in mind that there was JR, who everyone loved to hate, and there was Alexis Carrington in Dynasty, who everyone loved to hate, and I thought "that's what we need in Ambridge", and they said, "Oh, you've made her unpleasant," and I said "Yes," and they said, "Oh, we quite like that," so that's how it happened. 

'And then her voice. Well obviously it's radio so there were no shoulder pads or big hair to reflect the period so I thought "Well, I'm going to make her really obnoxious-sounding and irritating," and I just feel that you only have to hear her voice and you just want to run a mile which is rather nice for the character.' 

And WHAT a character! Lynda Snell - Ambridge legend!

The Archers: Nigel Pargetter - Graham Seed - A Fond Farewell...

Nigel Pargetter, played by Graham Seed, arrived in Ambridge in late 1983. The character hailed from a little way off, Lower Loxley House at Loxley Barrett, and was a completely unknown quantity in Ambridge.

But he wasted no time in making his presence felt, becoming romantically linked to Shula Archer ("Shulie") in 1983, bouncing around in a gorilla costume at the Hunt Ball, and driving Mrs Antrobus's Afghans wild with his Teddy Bears Picnic jingle as ice cream vendor Mr Snowy midway through the decade.

It came as a great surprise to this blogger to discover that the character has been killed off as part of The Archers 60th anniversary "celebrations". I find this trend in soaps - to feature a tragic story-line on such occasions - rather odd, and it's by no means as long-established a custom as some soap historians would have us believe.

A shame this trend has now reached The Archers.

Graham Seed was spotted by then Archers editor William Smethurst in a Birmingham rep production of Major Barbara in 1980. This led to Mr Seed getting his start in radio drama at Pebble Mill in several plays.

When the role of Nigel Pargetter was created in 1983, Mr Seed was asked to audition and won the part, which was originally intended to run for only a few weeks.

When the character was written out after two years (!), Nigel being sent abroad in 1985, a listeners' campaign was launched to bring him back. It was successful - Nigel returned after only a few weeks away. As William Smethurst wrote in 1987:

The Archers listener has always been a force to reckon with!

Actor Nigel Caliburn - now Carrington - briefly took over the role when Graham Seed took a break in the late 1980s.

Mr Seed was informed of Nigel's impending doom by Archers editor Vanessa Whitburn on 5 November 2010. Today, he issued an official statement:

It is with huge sadness that I leave The Archers after 27 years. Nigel Pargetter was a joy and a privilege to play, from 'Mr Snowy' to proud father. His enthusiasm, charm and love of life helped make Ambridge a happier place.

'On a personal note, I will sorely miss working with so many old friends and colleagues, especially Alison Dowling who plays Nigel's Lizzie.

'May I take this opportunity to thank all those listeners who endlessly communicated their loyalty, appreciation and affection towards Nigel and me. I'll miss him!'

Mr Seed further commented on the BBC's Archers blog:

It would be wrong of me to pretend that I was other than shocked when Vanessa [Whitburn, Archers editor] phoned with the news on a damp November 5th. Fireworks night - rather apt I thought! The hardest thing has been to keep it under wraps, not just from friends and family, but colleagues too. Now at least all is out in the open...

It's too soon to highlight memories. They go back to heady days in the '80s. William Smethurst created a wonderfully affectionate, vulnerable over-privileged young man causing havoc to the Archer household in scenes that were such fun to play.

Scenes of course with Jack May (Nelson) and Mary Wimbush (Julia), latterly with Richard Atlee (Kenton). But always Ali...

There was something of the Peter Pan in Nigel. He never really grew up.

Nigel was a charming character, of aristocratic background, naive, not terribly bright, but capable of great kindness and sensitivity.

Here's how the character was described in William Smethurst's 1987 book The Archers - The New Official Companion:

NIGEL PARGETTER is the only son of Gerald and Julia Pargetter of Lower Loxley House, Loxley Barrett, and in his day was a leading light of the Borchester Young Conservatives. In 1983 he fell in love with Shula but in the following year he was banned from Brookfield when, on the night of the Hunt Ball, he crept into Phil and Jill's bedroom having supposedly mistaken it for the bathroom. Later that year he was convicted of taking and driving away a sports car which he thought belonged to Tim Beecham (it didn't). Shula gave him the push and he started going out with Elizabeth. He got sacked from selling swimming pools and Elizabeth chucked him. His family sent him to an uncle in Zimbabwe and he returned after a few weeks.

In the summer of 1985 he was "Mr Snowy" and drove an ice-cream van, and in the autumn he sold toffee apples at Borchester Fair. In 1986 he went off to London to work for a City stockbroking firm.

Miss Elizabeth Archer and Mr Nigel Pargetter stroll the streets of Borchester in 1986.

In later years, Nigel married his dear "Lizzie" and they lived (mostly) happily at Lower Loxley Hall, with their two children, Lily and Freddie.

Nigel died in the episode transmitted on 2 January 2011. He fell from the roof of Lower Loxley House whilst trying to take down a New Year party banner. The last thing we heard from gentle, kind and whimsical Nigel was a terrible scream as he tumbled from the roof.

What has happened to our soaps?

Good luck to Mr Seed, and many thanks to him for years of happy listening. Nigel was usually very cheering to listen to.

I'll be tuning out of The Archers for the foreseeable future.

Modern day life is difficult enough.

Arriving in 1983, Nigel Pargetter was one of a number of new Archers characters introduced during the 1980s - others included Mrs Antrobus (Margot Boyd), Lynda Snell (Carole Boyd) and Ruth Archer (Felicity Finch).

1980: The Axing Of Waggoners' Walk...

Walking the walk... Mike and Claire Nash (Edward Cast and Ellen McIntosh) owned No 1, Waggoners' Walk, centre of a lot of the serial's action, from 1969 to 1980.

BBC Radio 2's sometimes controversial soap opera Waggoners' Walk, which had been on air since April 1969, was last broadcast in 1980 - it ended as part of the BBC's economy cutbacks. Bizarrely, Waggoners' Walk was, at the time of its enforced demise, the highest rated show of BBC Radio's drama output - this was pointed out back then. I couldn't help wondering just what the logic was in cutting this particular show, and wondered if the BBC, piqued at being made to pull in its belt, had decided to take it out on the audience?

And "Auntie" was very snobbish about soap opera at that time anyway. EastEnders was still years away.

The Beeb firmly turned down Capital Radio's request to take over Waggoners' Walk. Boo to the BBC!

Waggoners' Walk had often been fearless and controversial, covering story-lines like cancer, hypothermia and homosexuality.

The first homosexuality story-line had actually been a bit of a cop-out, with the gay man being a peripheral character who later "reformed", married and lived happily ever after. But never mind.

The show had its roots in a one-off radio play broadcast in early 1969, called The Ropewalk. It featured a lonely young woman - newly arrived in the capital from the north of England - prepared to offer her virginity to a stranger in a squalid bedsit, an anti-Vietnam demo, and a bouncer from a Soho clip-joint - where a young prostitute died of a heroin overdose.

And yes, this was in 1969.

Major characters in the Waggoners' saga included Mike and Claire Nash (Edward Cast and Ellen McIntosh) - he the editor of the Hampstead Herald, she a former model. Mike and Claire owned No 1 Waggoners' Walk; Lynn and Matt Prior (Judy Franklin and Michael Spice) - lady-like southerner Lynn and fiery northerner Matt were my two favourite characters. "Bloody wars, Lynn!" Matt would cry as news of the latest sophisticated goings-on in Hampstead reached him. "Matt! Behave yourself!" Lynn would reply. Matt and Lynn owned a restaurant and lived at the Old Bakery in Haverstock Hill. And then there was Liz and Peter Tyson (Ann Morrish and Basil Moss) - Peter was Lynn Prior's first husband. He and Liz lived in Minden Road and Liz worked on the Women's Page at the Hampstead Herald.

To end our round-up of memorable Walk characters, I'm sure fellow fans will remember Peter's father, the horribly grumpy Arthur Tyson (Lockwood West), and his genial friend George Underdown (Alan Dudley), who seemed to have found happiness with a late-in-life marriage, only to have that happiness cruelly snatched from him.

In 1980, Waggoners' Walk got an omnibus edition at last - beginning on Sunday, 20 January. Also in early 1980, the show opted to go down the gay route again, this time properly it seemed, when one of the characters - a restaurant waiter by the name of Rob Pengelly - announced: "Girls don't turn me on at all." This scene was actually rebroadcast as part of one of the first omnibus editions. At SUNDAY teatime, hallowed home of the classic Sunday serial on TV and Stars On Sunday! 

Cynical teen that I was, brought up on a '70s diet of The Sweeney, The Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club, Bernard Manning and George And Mildred, I muttered, "The BBC won't stand for this. They'll have this programme off in quick sticks."

"Queers", "benders", "poofs" or "woolly-woofters" as gay men were called around my district in the 1970s (not that any actually lived there as far as I knew but everybody had an opinion on them and, it seemed, everybody was a bigot) were definitely not the sort of thing you expected to hear about at tea time on Radio 2 - not even in 1980. Particularly at SUNDAY teatime!

I've no idea if the gay story-line actually did have any bearing on the matter, but, very shortly after it began, the axing was announced.

There was uproar, including a debate in Parliament, but the BBC was having none of it.

A friend of mine suggested that Margaret Thatcher's Government was responsible for the show's demise, as the BBC was being forced to make cutbacks. But this simply made me laugh. What company in its right mind decides to ditch one of its most successful products when looking at areas where savings can be made?

The show's forthcoming demise was actually mentioned in the plot by a character called Jessie Brewer to an aforementioned character called George Underdown some time before the final episode. Jessie was having a moan and ended a list of woes with: "BBC cutbacks - have you heard about them taking off Waggoners' Walk?"

"Um, yes," said George, who actually wasn't paying much attention as his mind was occupied by other problems. But George was a character in Waggoners' Walk, and his problems were simply Waggoners' Walk story-lines!

Highly weird.

The scene fused my brain for weeks afterwards.

TV soap opera moved on in the 1980s, gritty social issues were examined, some soaps developed a hefty left-wing subtext, and, in 1987, BBC Radio Four produced a brand new soap called Citizens, revolving around a group of friends sharing a house in London.

I tuned in eagerly, but quickly tuned out again. The show seemed, to my mind, almost desperately topical, and I felt it was tarnished by the then emerging political correctness.

Citizens soon went down the dumper.

What a shame Auntie hadn't stuck with Waggoners' Walk, I thought at the time.

And it was a shame.

The BBC had two widely differing serials on radio - Waggoners' Walk, set in 'appy 'ampstead, and The Archers, set in sleepy Ambridge. Both worked beautifully. One complemented the other. And I loved the way these serials spurred my imagination to form pictures of characters and settings.

I still listen to and enjoy The Archers.

And I still bemoan the loss of Waggoners' Walk, nearly thirty years on. When nostalgia takes me, I have several episodes I taped from the radio back then that I can listen to.

Oh well. The 1980s took away but they also gave us soaps - Brookside, EastEnders, Take The High Road and, of course, the brilliant spoof Acorn Antiques.

Here's what Victoria Wood had to say about her most celebrated creation:

"It was a homage to Crossroads but also to a terrible radio series called Waggoners' Walk which was on then."

"Terrible"? Flippin' 'eck!

Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And I loved Acorn Antiques, too!

After Waggoners' Walk ended, a novel was published, Waggoners Walk - The Story Continues..., written by Terry James, one of the show's scriptwriters.

The final episode was heard at the end of May 1980, and it went out with a cliffhanger: middle-aged George Underdown, whose wife had died of a heart attack the year before, asked a girl thirty years younger than himself to marry him - Sophie Richmond, victim of a rape in 1979.

In the final scene, a shocked Sophie told George she needed time to think about it.

The novel took the saga on to September 1980, when Sophie married George. Sophie had decided that marriage to middle-aged George was right for her. The rape had left her afraid of sex, and George had told her that a "platonic marriage", based on companionship, would be all right with him. Sex had never played a large part in his life anyway.

On the last page of the book, Sophie discovered George crying over a photograph of his dead wife and telling it that he'd only married Sophie because he missed her so much.

"I think I may have made the biggest mistake of my life," Sophie told herself.

The End.

Another cliffhanger, this time never to be resolved!

Readers of the "Story Continues..." left Waggoners' Walk for the very last time in September 1980.

And this particular reader was tearing his hair out!

The '80s Archers Part 1: Mrs Antrobus And A Decade Of Change...

Mrs Marjorie Antrobus, played by Margot Boyd from 1984-2004.

Dum-di-dum-di-dum-di-dum...

When I mentioned to Pete, an old pal of mine, that I was going to be writing about the BBC radio serial The Archers on '80s Actual, he raised his eyebrows in surprise: surely, he suggested, the cutting edge elements of the decade - things such as Sir Alec Jeffreys discovering DNA fingerprinting in 1984, Sir Tim Berners-Lee inventing the World Wide Web in 1989, the Apple Mac, brick mobile phones, massive shoulder pads, Spitting Image, Greenham Common, and yuppies - were of far more interest than a radio programme which had first been given a trial run in 1950, and become a nightly regular in 1951?

I disagree. The 1980s were a pivotal and fascinating time for the Ambridge saga. And besides, I'd already written about the Apple Mac, etc!

Over in Borsetshire, the 1980s saw the end of some much-loved long running characters: Doris Archer (Gwen Berryman), Dan Archer (Frank Middlemass), Aunt Laura Archer (Betty McDowall), Jethro Larkin (George Hart), Polly Perks (Hilary Newcombe) and Walter Gabriel (Chris Gittens) all died.

A sad time indeed. But newcomers breezed in and established characters made new moves.

The 1980s saw Nelson Gabriel (Jack May) opening his now legendary wine bar; Sid Perks (Alan Devereux) finding a second wife in Kathy (Hedli Niklaus); Mark Hebden (Richard Derrington), soon to be Mr Shula Archer, putting in his first appearance; Nigel Pargetter (Graham Seed) arriving on the scene, dressed as a gorilla - and cooing "Oh, Shulie!" to the aforementioned Shula Archer (Judy Bennett); Eddie Grundy (Trevor Harrison) marrying Clarrie Larkin (Fiona Mathieson); Bert Fry (Roger Hume) - he of the famous rythming couplets - arriving and becoming an employee at Brookfield; the deliciously awful Lynda Snell (Carole Boyd) blasting in from Sunningdale to take over Ambridge Hall (for those of us who remembered Carole Boyd as the downtrodden, down-to-earth Shirley Edwards in the BBC Radio 2 saga Waggoners' Walk, Lynda Snell came as something of a surprise!); and Ruth Pritchard (Felicity Finch) becoming the latest incomer to the Archer clan, as David's wife.

It would have seemed absolutely impossible to imagine Ambridge without Doris, Dan and Walter at the start of 1980 - but in 1989, although each of these original Archers characters had sadly departed, Ambridge was still thriving - as full of colourful characters as ever, and perhaps a little more lively.

We missed the departed very much indeed, but The Archers in no way became a mournful whinge. Nor did it descend into a creaky old age.

The '80s incomers were a terrific crowd - Ruth Pritchard, with her glorious English regional accent, was a breath of fresh air to the rather poshly-spoken Archer clan; Lynda Snell was somebody you wanted to scream at, loud and often, but, underneath it all, thoroughly lovable; Bert Fry was... well... Bert Fry - 'nuff said! - and Nigel Pargetter was a tremendously good natured but thoroughly bungling upper class twit - a sort of Bertie Wooster for the 1980s.

But, despite the undoubted charms of the above mentioned, my absolute favourite 1980s Ambridge newcomer was a certain somebody who soon became known in the village as "The Dog Woman".

Arriving in Ambridge in 1984 to give a talk to the local Women's Institute on the subject of "The Colourful World Of The Afghan Hound", Mrs Marjorie Antrobus was a fascinating and colourful character herself!

A committed Christian, Marjorie was the widow of soldier and game hunter Teddy Antrobus and had been stationed with him in Palestine and later in Africa. On her return to England, she set up home in Waterley Cross, but it wasn't long before she decided to move to Ambridge. In 1985, Shula Archer, working for local estate agents Rodway & Watson, showed Mrs Antrobus around Nightingale Farm - a dilapidated property near Brookfield Farm, owned by Hugo Barnaby.

Marjorie was a keen breeder and exhibitor of Afghan hounds and was impressed with the fact that Nightingale Farm was set well back from the road - and that there were outbuildings which could be converted into kennels. Mrs A always put the interests of her beloved "girls" first and foremost, and so Nightingale Farm was restored and renovated to provide a home for herself and her charges.

One of the most enjoyable things about soap operas is being able to identify with certain characters and being able to liken other characters to people around us. We've all heard comments like: "I'd feel just the same if I was Jack Duckworth!", "I met a woman today and she was just like Amy Turtle..." or "Doesn't Pat Archer put you in mind of cousin Lorna?" Be they a barman, a charwoman or a farmer's wife, most soap characters are mirrors of ourselves and the people we see around us. Often exaggerated, but still recognisable.

But how many of us know - or have ever known - the wife of a soldier and game hunter who had spent years in several far-flung outposts of the British Empire, before coming back to England as a widow to breed and show Afghan hounds? Marjorie Antrobus was surely nobody's idea of a Mrs Average, yet it mattered not as actress Margot Boyd breathed such humanity and warmth into the character that we were enchanted by her and immediately took her to our hearts.

Her appearance at the WI in 1984 was intended to be a one-off, but she was soon back in Ambridge, opening the village fete. Then came her elevation to Ambridge resident.

As noted earlier in this text, some local residents dubbed Marjorie "The dog woman", but she soon made many friends.

Into the flat at Nightingale Farm moved various tenants for Marjorie to look after over the years - including Nigel Pargetter and Ruth Pritchard. Marjorie had a great affinity with young people, and Ruth in particular became great friends with her - Marjorie was the only one Ruth confided in about her feelings for David Archer (Timothy Bentinck).

Nigel Pargetter unwittingly wreaked havoc in 1986: in competition with Elizabeth Archer (Alison Dowling) as an ice cream vendor, Nigel's oft-heard Teddy Bear's Picnic jingle drove Marjorie's Afghans into a frenzy!

Mrs Antrobus soon settled down into Ambridge life, becoming editor of the village magazine. She represented Ambridge at the 1986 Women's Institute AGM at the Albert Hall and proved herself no prude - joining in discussions about AIDS and child abuse, amongst other contentious issues.

She was also an essential part of Ambridge's on-stage entertainments. Who could forget her winning the talent contest at the Ambridge 1989 Spring Festival, singing Nice People With Nice Manners alongside Ruth Archer? Who could forget her as Lady Bracknell in the village production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990? Girls just wanna have fun, or so Cyndi Lauper says, and if Marjorie was anything to go by, Cyndi is certainly to be believed. Always young at heart, Marjorie once accompanied Eddie Grundy (Trevor Harrison) and Radio One DJ John Peel in a rousing rendition of Yellow Submarine - seated in the back of Eddie's van!

But Marjorie wasn't just a confidante for those in distress, a village worthy or a character simply designed to make us smile between her good works and shoulder-to-cry-on moments. Eccentric though Mrs A was, she was utterly believable - and a very rounded character. Her voice absolutely throbbed with passion as she confided to Freddie Danby (Ballard Berkeley) that pregnant Afghan Portia's pups were going to be "works of art" after her mating with Little Croxley Owen Glendower in 1987.

And Marjorie's loneliness and great fondness for Colonel D were obvious as she asked him to be present at the birth and tried to ensure that he would be present by promising that the first-born pup would be named "Freddie" after him. Hear the scene at the BBC's 1980s Archers Timeline - scroll down to 1987.

As it happened, the birth of Portia's pups brought a great shock: Little Croxley Owen Glendower was not the Daddy, and Captain, Jack Woolley's much-loved Staffordshire bull terrier companion, was! Marjorie was shattered.

Even more dramatically, a few years later, Marjorie lost a large sum of money - falling victim to swindler Cameron Fraser (Delaval Astley), who arrived in Ambridge in 1990.

When it came to romance, Marjorie certainly didn't consider herself too old, but her excursions into the romantic arena were doomed to failure. Colonel Danby was not interested, and when she answered a small ad in The Borchester Echo ('gentleman farmer seeking companionship') she was startled when none other than Joe Grundy (Edward Kelsey) turned up at the rendezvous. Still, give her her due, she helped him write to another applicant and lent him one of Teddy's tweed jackets for the date that resulted.

While The Archers refused to decline into a creaky old age in the 1980s, it didn't become an imitation of the hugely popular American soaps of the era either. Today newspaper remarked in 1986:

In Denver there were two Krystle Carringtons, one kidnapped and one with a permanent headache to fend off husband Blake. In Dallas they were still mourning Bobby Ewing's death. In Ambridge, Jethro Larkin had his dog's photograph taken in a booth in Borchester and Mrs Antrobus became editor of the parish magazine.

Six years ago, the average Archers' fan was a woman over 50 who thought Shula Archer was a young tearaway. Now the latest goings-on in Ambridge are discussed by bright young things at posh dinner parties - perhaps the poshest, since the Queen, the Queen Mother and the Princess of Wales are known to be fans. At The Times there is talk of forming a Nelson Gabriel fan club.

I can tell you that many of us "commoners" were lapping up the show, too!

Old age forced Marjorie Antrobus to give up Nightingale Farm and move into The Laurels, a local nursing home, in 2004. Margot Boyd, a distinguished actress of great talent, style and humour, died in 2008 - at the age of 94.

Mrs Antrobus was a thoroughly "good egg" and had that special hint of Ambridge magic about her that ensures her a place in The Archers gallery of all-time greats. She was a tremendous character, who helped to ensure that the 1980s, a testing time for the show with the departures of so many old favourites, are remembered as a splendid decade in the show's long life.

They don't make 'em like Marjorie Antrobus anymore. Nor, indeed, Margot Boyd.

Sadly.

Mrs Antrobus with two of her "girls".