The Archers: the Ambridge chronicles. Part 2, Looking for love, 1968-1986

317 Pages·1999·8.91 MB·English

by  Joanna Toye

□□0
19684986
Looking for Love
Joanna Toye
Looking for Love follows the fortunes of Dan and
Doris Archer’s children and grandchildren as they
search for fulfilment in the changing world of the
Seventies and early Eighties.
Jennifer, struggling as an unmarried mother, thinks
that marriage to the handsome Roger will he the
answer to all her prayers. It isn’t, but Jennifer gets
another chance.
Lilian tragically loses her first husband, Nick, after
only a few months of marriage. Recovering, she
finds happiness with local squire Ralph Bellamy,
only to find that his health is failing.
Tony’s ill-matched engagement to Mary is broken
off just in time for him to meet and marry Pat who,
as well as helping to run the farm, manages to cope
with their three children - and Tony himself!
Christine has spent years trying to save her marriage.
But when her husband Paul’s latest business venture
hits trouble and he flees to Germany, she realises
that she’s finally had enough.
Shula’s choice of boyfriend often left her parents in
despair. Even when she meets the eminently suitable
Mark Hebden, it is years before she finally realises
he is the only man for her.
The course of true love is not set to run smoothly
for the next generation of the Archers. Looking for
Love, the second volume in this trilogy of novels
published to celebrate the forthcoming fiftieth
anniversary of The Archers, continues the story of
BBC Radio 4’s most famous farming family.
THE A M B R I D G E C H R O N I C L E S
THE A M B R I D G E C H R O N I C L E S
PART TWO
Looki ng for Love
J OANNA TOYE
For Mary Cutler, with love, to mark her twenty years on the writing team.
This book is published to accompany
the BBC Radio 4 serial entitled The Archers.
The Editor of The Archers is Vanessa Whitburn.
Published by BBC Worldwide Ltd,
Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12 OTT
First published 1999
Copyright ©JoannaToye 1999
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any means, without the permission in
writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may
quote brief passages in a review.
ISBN 0 563 55125 9
Commissioning Editor: Anna Ottewill
Project Editor: Lara Speicher
Designed byTim Higgins
Text set in Adobe Plantin and New Caledonia Semi Bold Italic
by Keystroke, Jacaranda Lodge, Wolverhampton
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd,
Frome and London
Jacket printed by Lawrence-Alien Ltd, Weston-super-Mare
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
The Archers Family Tree 8
Prologue 1967: Lost and Found 11
1 Sisterly Love 21
2 The Next Generation 35
3 Making Room 53
4 Ring in the New 65
5 Rites of Passage 83
6 The Boy Wonder 93
7 Working It Out 105
8 Choices 117
9 Comings and Goings 129
10 Mixed Feelings 143
11 Taken by Surprise 159
12 A Learning Curve 171
13 Discoveries 185
14 Endurance 199
15 Starting Afresh 209
16 Temptation 219
17 Losses and Gains 231
Contents
18 Inevitabilities 247
19 Liberation 259
20 A Parting of the Ways 273
21 Fighting Back 291
22 The End of an Era 301
Acknowledgements
As ever, thanks are due to many people without whom I could not
have begun to contemplate writing this book.
On the production team of The Archers, the Editor, Vanessa
Whitburn, has given me her unstinting support. Keri Davies read
the manuscript and Camilla Fisher again helped me hugely with my
endless continuity queries.
At BBC Worldwide, Lara Speicher worked tirelessly as Project
Editor, and Commissioning Editor Anna Ottewill enthused in all
the right places, while at the BBC’s Written Archives Centre in
Reading, Neil Somerville and James Codd helped me to access past
script material by Alan Bower, Debbie Cook, Mary Cutler, Tessa
Diamond, Dave Dixon, Simon Frith, Graham Harvey, Brian Hayles,
Helen Leadbeater, Edward J. Mason, Keith Miles, Bruno Milna,
Margaret Phelan, James Robson and William Smethurst.
In the years that this book covers, Tony Shryane retired after
nearly 30 years as Producer and William Smethurst took over as
Editor. I worked for them both and each, in their way, developed and
encouraged my ambitions.
Finally, I have to thank Roger Florey, without whom I wouldn’t
have had a desk at which to write, and Rob Hutchings, for lunch.
Joanna Toye
August 1999
T h e A r c h e r s
John Archer m Phoebe
John Benjamin (Ben) m Simone Delamain Frank m Laura Wilson
27.5.1898-2.8.1972 1900-1929 1.6.1900- 29.8.1911-
30.5.1957 14.2.1985
John (Jack) m Margaret (Peggy) Perkins Philip Walter m (1) Grace Fairbrother
17.12.1922- b. 13.11.1922 b. 23.4.1928 2.4.1929-22.9.195f
12.1.1972 I
m (2) Jack Woolley m (2) Jill Patterson
b. 19.7.1919 b. 3.10.1930
Jennifer m (1) Roger Travers-Macy Lilian m(l) Lester Nicholson
b. 7.1.1945 b. 9.3.1944 b. 8.7.1947 7.6.1946- 18.3.1970
div. Feb 1976
m (2) Ralph Bellamy
Adam
I
26.2.1925-18.1.1980
b. 22.6.1967 Deborah
(by Paddy Redmond) b. 24.12.1970
m(2) Brian Aldridge James Rodney Dominic
b. 20.11.1943 b. 30.3.1973
Katherine Victoria (Kate) Alice Margaret
b.30.9.1977 b.29.9.1988
Phoebe
b.28.6.1998
(by Roy Tucker)
F a m i l y T r e e
William Forrest m Lisa
I
Daniel m Doris Edward George Thomas William (Tom)
15.10.1896 11.7.1890 (Ted) 20.10.1910-5.11.98
23.4.1986 27.10.1980 10.1.1902- m
17.1.1920 Prudence Harris (Pru)
27.7.1921-11.11.98
Christine m (l) Paul Johnson
b.21.12.1931 10.1.1931-10.5.1978
Peter (adopted)
b. 5.9.1965
m (2) George Barford
b.24.10.1928
uithony William Shula Mary Kenton Edward David Thomas Elizabeth
Daniel (Tony) b. 8.8.1958 b. 8.8.1958 b. 18.9.1959 b. 21.4.1967
b. 16.2.1951 m m m
m Melanie Ruth Nigel
Pat Lewis Hardiment Pritchard Pargetter
b. 10.1.1952 b. 12.2.1972 b. 16.6.1968 b. 8.6.1959
m(l) MarkHebden
20.2.1955-17.2.1994
ohn Daniel Helen Thomas
1.12.1975- b. b.
25.2.1998 16.4.1979 25.2.1981 - Daniel Mark Archer
b. 14.11.1994
Philippa Rose
(Pip)
m (2) Alistair Lloyd b. 17.2.1993
Joshua Mathew
(Josh)
b. 13.9.1997