Susie Riddell prepares for a nationwide theatre tour marking The Archers’ 75th anniversary while portraying Tracy Horrobin, a character who speaks without holding back. Tracy’s family and associates include husband Jazzer, Lilian, and Brian, and her personality is described as constrained by BBC language rules. Riddell connects Tracy’s world to village reading habits, imagining a pub like The Bull with copies of The Guardian alongside more typical rural papers. Different characters are linked to different newspapers: Pat reads The Guardian, Tony once switched from the Mirror, and Bert buys the Borchester Echo for racing. Tracy herself is portrayed as too busy to read, focusing instead on work and caregiving.
"I’m very careful not to betray my true levels of excitement when I speak to The Archers actor Susie Riddell, before a nationwide theatre tour to mark the rural radio drama's 75th anniversary. I may be an Ambridge superfan but I still don't want to scare the horses (nor indeed the cows, pigs or sheep). Riddell's character Tracy Horrobin (who will be appearing with husband, Jazzer, local lush Lilian and cravat-wearing criminal Brian) is not one to hold back however: It's like a dream come true for me too! she confides, slipping easily into broad Borsetshire."
"The Bull, for the uninitiated, is a half-timbered pub on the village green offering ale, artisanal food and, it seems, copies of the Guardian. It's a thrilling thought: I briefly entertain the idea of rock star turned vegan baker turned wedding caterer turned pub chef Fallon sitting in the snug, poring over my pie recipes in the Guardian. But it's stretching credibility to believe an old-fashioned village boozer would find room for any reading material more substantial than Farmers Weekly. Riddell concedes the point."
"Maybe Helen left it behind? Are we going to try to look cool on tour? Or will we do Barbours and tweeds? Helen's mother, Pat, certainly takes the paper. Indeed, this was the centre of an early 80s storyline, when she put her foot down and made her husband, Tony, switch his allegiance from the Mirror. The Horrobins, meanwhile, long the bad apples in the rustic basketweave of Ambridge life, definitely buy the Borchester Echo, because Bert likes to look at the racing."
"But when it comes to her own character, a mother of two responsible for an elderly parent and several part-time jobs, Riddell says: I don't think she's got time to read the flippin' paper. That flipping is very Tracy a woman, one senses, who is more constrained than most by the BBC's rules on language. Riddell has happy memories of shouting ob"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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