The Archers - Classic Theme Tune - Long Version Outro - BBC Light Programme & Home Service

If you listened to The Archers on the BBC Home Service in the early to mid 1960s (or later on Radio 4) and if you remember Dan and Doris Archer, Walter Gabriel and Tom Forest et al then you'll also remember that The Archers' outro theme tune used to be considerably longer than it is today.
So, in memory of times past, here's the classic Archers theme tune in its longer form, complete with the stirring crescendo towards the end. Thank you to an Archers fan who informed me that the crescendo is unofficially known as the Archers 'doom music' and was used for episodes with very tense cliff-hangers. Apparently BBC policy is that the doom music will never be used again. Now I have to say that is a great shame!
The Archers theme tune is Barwick Green, a maypole dance composed by Arthur Wood in 1924. The recording was made by Sidney Torch and his orchestra at EMI in 1951 and it was produced by George Martin who later produced The Beatles.
Keen-eared listeners will recognise that the mix used by the BBC differed slightly from this one which is the commercially released version on the Parlophone label.
On one occasion in 1975 I was waiting for the lift in the BBC's Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham. The lift door opened and out came Edgar Harrison (Dan Archer the Second) and Gwen Berryman (Doris Archer). They seemed extraordinarily out of context in that ultra-modern studio complex rather than on the farm in Ambridge. There was not so much as a stalk of hay or straw anywhere to be seen!

[@michaelburke445]

The first soap opera, albeit on the radio, I grew up with this tune as a child and can't forget it.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Same!!

[@Wildlifesupernannyfan]

Such a great melody of a theme tune.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Absolutely!!

[@tinahardman9805]

This is such a great theme tune.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

It certainly is! shame the BBC only broadcasts a tiny segment of it nowadays.

[@charlotte-mg9wj]

I learned CPR to this.

[@michaelranger4452]

I remember the time that it did not play at the end of the episode. "This is London, reorts are coming in from Dallas that President Kennedy has been shot. It is not yet known if the President survived". We immedeately ran to turn on the TV, because "Telstar" was starting to be used. As the set warmed up, we were live from the streets of Dallas, near the "grassy knoll" and overpass, everyone was still in shock, and incoherent.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Goodness me ...😮‍💨

[@alexblue6991]

The best of British

[@amyclarke41]

aww

[@UkOutreach]

I so regret that they never use the rather spine-tingling piece just before the end, popularly known in archers aficionados’ circles as the Doom Music. It was used only when needed, to signal the most serious events in the programme. Sadly it has been deemed unnecessary for many years.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

Yes it was such a stirring finale. Didn't know it was called the Doom Music!!

[@UkOutreach]

15/20 years ago the then editor of the programme, Venessa Whitburn, decided that the Doom Music (although she didn’t call it that of course) should not be played again. If ever there was an occasion to play it, it was at the time of Nigel’s death plunge. Unfortunately, No.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

@@UkOutreach What a terrible decision!

[@Glenn1967ful]

The best thing about The Archers is the music, as the programme is like watching paint dry.

[@rickhardman7376]

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