Children in Need - The Winner
13 November 2008

The winner of our competition in aid of Children in Need was Christine Beatty, who lives in quite Ambridge-like surroundings - a little village near Kidderminster in Worcestershire.

Christine Beatty (right) in studio with
Carol Boyd (Lynda) and Timothy Bentinck (David)

For her prize, Christine spent a day at the BBC's Mailbox studios in Birmingham's city centre, meeting the actors and production team, helping with sound effects and even joining in background noises as part of a crowd.

Chris has listened to the programme all her life. One of the her earliest memories is standing by a Bakelite radio at the age of six or seven in her dressing gown. She can remember Grace dying in the fire in 1955. "My parents listened and so did I - not that it was onerous - and it just became part of my routine."

"I don't always hear every episode in the week, but I'm very antisocial on Sundays, padding around the kitchen and listening to the omnibus. No-one's allowed in! I feel as though I've got to know these people after all these years."

"One of the great strengths of The Archers is that the stories don't just come and go. They're played out in real time over months and years. That doesn't just make the stories more interesting - it makes them more plausible as well. The Archers is so important. It would be a great blow if it were ever taken off air. I'm sure a lot of people feel like that."

When asked to identify her favourite character, she says it's quite a difficult choice: "So many of them have their charms, but I think probably Brian, because I just want to swat him sometimes. And Peggy's been doing some sterling stuff with the Alzheimer's story."

"It's been very interesting being in the studio, looking at the gravel on the floor so that you can hear the feet crunch, and the foam rubber walls. Being in the studio with the actors it sounds very different to listening to the programme with all the sound effects.

"Some of the actors looked exactly like I imagined them but some were very different. The lady who plays Clarrie [Rosalind Adams] - I visualised a big and blousy woman with peroxided hair and she was nothing like that at all."

Out of the blue

Chris was very surprised when she was told of her success in the competition: "The telephone rang early one evening. I'd had quite a few cold calls during the day, so I said hello rather waspishly. The lady at the other end actually said 'I'm not a cold caller, I'm from the BBC'. I was so taken aback. I'd entered the competition on a whim and I'd forgotten about it. I've never entered a competition before - never wanted to - but I heard the question and I thought 'I know the answer to that'.

"She asked if I could get to the studio on the Sunday and at first I thought no, because I had something on. And then I thought how ridiculous that was, so I cancelled it, and here I am! This is a wonderful prize, really wonderful."

The answer

The question which we asked was: "Which Archers character is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence? Is it:

A Alf Grundy
B Gareth Taylor - aka Owen King, or
C Clive Horrobin"

The correct answer was C - Clive Horrobin. Alf has spent time in prison but is currently at liberty, and Gareth Taylor was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

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