The Archers The Archers Scriptwriters

Mary Cutler

Having spent all her life in Birmingham (apart from three years at Cambridge), Mary might seem an unlikely person to be writing about rural life, but she is obviously very good at it, as she is the longest-serving writer on The Archers, having first written for the programme in 1979. Many of the lessons she has learnt about country life were put to good effect when she created the much-loved Hayley Jordan (now Tucker).

Keri Davies

Formerly The Archers senior producer, Keri combines writing Archers scripts with running this very website.

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Adrian Flynn

Adrian has been a scriptwriter with The Archers since 1998. His other radio writing includes Burning Everest, a two part adaptation of his own novel and theatre play, which was shortlisted for the Writer's Guild Best Children's Radio Play in 1994. He has also written adaptations and original works for publication and the theatre.

Simon Frith

Trained as a landscape artist and photographer, Simon's love of his native Gloucestershire countryside pervades every word he has written since he joined The Archers writing team in 1983. His versatility as a writer is such that he has been responsible for such diverse events as the death of Walter Gabriel and the 1999 pantomime, Babes in the Wood.

Nawal Gadalla

It seems that Nawal was born to write The Archers. Her (Egyptian) father wrote a weekly half hour soap opera for the BBC Arabic World Service in the late sixties, while her mother, the experienced radio actress Josefina Ray, provided the voices for Willie, Mrs Scrubbit and the baby in the Woodentops. Sounds like perfect training!

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Caroline Harrington

Caroline started writing radio plays while working for BBC Copyright, sent a "Gi'us a job" letter to The Archers production office and joined the writing team in 1990. Although she prefers the everyday scenes of village life to the dramatic storylines, Caroline enjoyed the controversy surrounding Joe Grundy's ferrets and is now known locally as Caroline Harrington, Ferret Killer!

Graham Harvey

Although his job as the programme's agricultural story editor keeps him pretty busy, Graham still writes the occasional week of Archers scripts. A former agricultural journalist and one-time "Old Muckspreader" in Private Eye, Graham has written several influential books, including The Killing of the Countryside and The Forgiveness of Nature.

Carole Simpson Solazzo

Carole is a Lancashire lass, born in Bury and now living in Bacup, although she lived for a year in Florence with her husband Sergio, "next-door-but-one to the Arlecchino Sexy Movies".

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Tim Stimpson

The youngest ever Archers scriptwriter joined the team after an MPhil in playwriting at Birmingham University.

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Joanna Toye

Joanna was part of the production team of The Archers for nine years between 1980 and 1995, working her way up from production assistant to senior producer. She first wrote for the programme in 1984. She is also the author of Shula's Story, The Ambridge Chronicles trilogy and The Archers Miscellany.