Brawls, blackmail and Judi Dench: 75 staggering moments from 75 years of The Archers

From Jill’s flung flapjack to Nigel’s tragic fall, the Great Flood, Helen’s acquittal and a priceless cameo from Dame Judi, here’s an anniversary feast of epic Ambridge moments

The Archers, Radio 4’s “everyday story of countryfolk” – which the BBC now bills, rather more aspirationally, as a “contemporary drama in a rural setting” – celebrates its diamond anniversary this month. Like many British institutions (Marmite, PMQs, fruit cake) the serial, which launched in 1951, occupies a curious place in the national psyche; the first notes of that determinedly jolly maypole dance will either send you lurching for the power button, or shouting for silence. There is, I’m afraid, no middle ground.

Stranger still, you can switch Ambridge off any time you like, but you can never leave. Indeed, online discussion forums are littered with people sneering that they stopped tuning in when the storylines became too sensational, silly or depressing … yet somehow they’re still there, moaning about the show.