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The funny thing is that The Archers is extremely likely to go off the air in the very near future (they can't record any at the moment and they only have a coup

by sgt101 7y ago

The funny thing is that The Archers is extremely likely to go off the air in the very near future (they can't record any at the moment and they only have a couple of weeks in the can). Since the availability of The Archers is the key sign of life for the UK we better all pray that the Boomer on duty changes shift soon! (or this whole radio 4 thing is utter bollocks)

chrisseaton 7y ago
Why aren't they recording at home? My understanding was the many of the characters record individually anyway. At least the child actors definitely did, so it must be possible to act and edit together this way. I think cartoons all record individually. You only need a half-decent microphone. You could do it on a bad microphone if you wanted! The Archers is a timeless part of the background noise in many family kitchens in the UK. Seems a shame not to fight through this little piece of calm for normal families in this time of crisis.
- simonw 7y ago
  They're building out home recording capacity right now, and will be recording from home (on a slightly reduced schedule) shortly: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084510 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084510
ceejayoz 7y ago
"amongst other checks" If BBC4 goes down, but you're still able to call London on a satellite phone, you don't go nuking Russia. If you have a half dozen different signs of nuclear war and BBC4 is down, it's a point in the "well shit" direction.
- soneil 7y ago
  That's it - they don't depend on the BBC. It's more a troubleshooting step. If the light in the kitchen doesn't work, but the one in the living room does, there's something wrong with the kitchen light. If everything's off, there's something wrong with your electricity. So if Northwood goes silent, but the cricket is uninterupted, there's probably something wrong with Northwood. If everything's gone, there's probably something wrong with your radio. But if Northwood's gone, the BBC's gone, but VOA is still up .. you start wondering if something's wrong with the UK. (For example. I'm not privy to anything the rest of us aren't. But it's clear that it's an item on a checklist that happens to have some novelty value, rather than being our "systema perimetr".)

by sgt101 7y ago

chrisseaton 7y ago

Why aren't they recording at home? My understanding was the many of the characters record individually anyway. At least the child actors definitely did, so it must be possible to act and edit together this way. I think cartoons all record individually. You only need a half-decent microphone. You could do it on a bad microphone if you wanted! The Archers is a timeless part of the background noise in many family kitchens in the UK. Seems a shame not to fight through this little piece of calm for normal families in this time of crisis.

simonw 7y ago
They're building out home recording capacity right now, and will be recording from home (on a slightly reduced schedule) shortly: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084510 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084510

ceejayoz 7y ago

"amongst other checks" If BBC4 goes down, but you're still able to call London on a satellite phone, you don't go nuking Russia. If you have a half dozen different signs of nuclear war and BBC4 is down, it's a point in the "well shit" direction.

soneil 7y ago
That's it - they don't depend on the BBC. It's more a troubleshooting step. If the light in the kitchen doesn't work, but the one in the living room does, there's something wrong with the kitchen light. If everything's off, there's something wrong with your electricity. So if Northwood goes silent, but the cricket is uninterupted, there's probably something wrong with Northwood. If everything's gone, there's probably something wrong with your radio. But if Northwood's gone, the BBC's gone, but VOA is still up .. you start wondering if something's wrong with the UK. (For example. I'm not privy to anything the rest of us aren't. But it's clear that it's an item on a checklist that happens to have some novelty value, rather than being our "systema perimetr".)