The Marble - Archers The edifying saga of the Archer family is
likely, according to the BBC's agricultural liaison officer,°to go on for another ten years. Listening to the unashamedly West End accents in which most of the cast deliver it to millions of devoted listeners, I fell to speculating upon the possibilities of a com- panion- programme. This would recount an every-day story of city folk, and its central figure ought, I think, to be a reasonably successful stockbroker. His family (who, in order to maintain an equipoise, would all talk with a broad Mummerset accent) would have roughly the dimensions and the diversity of Mr. Archer's, and what with their friends, dependants and retainers should enable the BBC to offer rustic listeners a wide cross-section of metropolitan life. (" Them in stroipey caps—them be the 'Arrow lads." Peregrine Marble- Archer would explain to Jacynth. She would say " Reg'lar oophill foight they do be 'aving, poor critturs.") The educa- tional purpose, so discreetly attained in The Archers, would not be lost sight of; but in place of well-informed colloquies about the warble-fly or the wire-worm (" it's absolutely amazing what a lot of damage they can do if you give them half a chance ") there would be useful hints about how to deal with wine-waiters and night-club hostesses. I believe that my project, if acted upon, would give almost universal pleasure.
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