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Supporting acts: Vanessa Whitburn
30 August 2007
Our occasional series looking at the people behind the scenes turns to the woman at the top: Archers editor, Vanessa Whitburn.
Vanessa Whitburn
What part do you play in village life?
I'm the boss. I run the programme and the great team who produce it. The buck stops with me and of course ultimately the Controller of Radio 4, Mark Damazer.
The job involves everything from chairing the script meetings, directing the research, choreographing the storylines and sometimes, when time permits, getting into studio to direct our talented actors and technical team. I am also the public face of The Archers for the BBC so I quite often end up on Feedback or being quoted in the press.
How did you end up in Ambridge?
I listened to the programme literally at my grandmother's knee and while at university. I joined the BBC as a trainee sound engineer, like a lot of people recruited at that time and I really wanted to produce and direct drama. The few years I spent in the job taught me a lot about what can be done in a studio, what microphones can do, how to edit sound, record on location and create a soundscape. So when I applied and got my dream job as a radio drama producer I was well equipped to work in the medium.
My lifelong passion for directing actors at university, combined with what I learned afterwards, gave me a powerful springboard. And I was still listening to The Archers. Imagine then my pleasure when an attachment to the programme came up and I was able to work under William Smethhurst's editorship, taking responsibility for studio direction and casting new characters. For example, I am proud to have cast Trevor Harrison as Eddie Grundy and Sara Coward as Caroline Bone, now Sterling.
I went away from Ambridge to become senior producer for radio drama in the Midlands and then to television to produce Brookside, later returning to produce and direct in television for BBC at their Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham. The top Archers job came up in 1991 and I went for it. In 1995 the post was combined with running the Midlands arm of the radio drama department. Then a couple of years ago I took on management responsibility for the team who run Silver Street, the vibrant young soap for the Asian Network.
What do you like best about you job?
The variety. And running a rooted, relevant programme with a terrific team and a big listenership. It's as simple as that.
Who is your favourite character?
All of them.
Why?
It's a diplomatic answer!
What character would you most like to play?
The adorable, contradictory, powerful yet vulnerable Lynda Snell. Though I suspect my comedy timing would not be as good as Carol Boyd's!
Why?
See above.
What's been your favourite storyline in the archers?
I like the big ones which catch the zeitgeist and therefore get debated and noticed beyond the programme itself. For example, Elizabeth's abortion, Susan's imprisonment for seeking to pervert the course of justice, Tom's battle with the supermarket, Brian, Siobhan, Jennifer and Ruairi ... I could go on.
What's been your most memorable moment?
I have many. But I think the splendid occasion of our 50th birthday party hosted by Prince Charles at St James's Palace. A fabulous evening.
What would you most like to see in Ambridge?
Peace, love, harmony. Oh dear ... but then I suppose you'd all stop listening!
If you weren't the editor of The Archers, what would you be doing?
I'd like to think I'd be producing a TV drama of quality and significance or directing some theatre. But who knows? I might be doing something totally different in life.
And finally - what are you most proud of?
In work, the quality of the programme, our excellent listening figures and the fact that we are at the top of the Listen Again charts - which points to an appetite for podcasts of the programme [we are hoping to be able to offer these at some time in the future].
In my personal life, my partner and my family and improving my ability to do that difficult work/life balance thing.
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