Previous conferences
The conferences, 2025 right back to 2016
Since 2016 we have gathered, every year and very nearly without fail, to think seriously and laugh a great deal about a radio drama. In that time we have welcomed well over 1,500 delegates and more than 200 presenters, in lecture halls and libraries, in a museum of rural life and a symphony hall, over Zoom and in person, all in the name of joyful, curious, scholarly Ambridology.
What follows is the record. Who spoke, what they spoke about, and who went home with an award. Recordings of many of the papers can be found on our YouTube channel and on the Academic Archers podcast.
2025
Online, over Zoom, and in spirit at the University of Felpersham
Friday 28 to Sunday 30 March 2025
Our second fully online gathering took us from climate and carbon to the market town department store, from grandfathers in family life to genetic determinism and the long arm of Borsetshire law. It was also the weekend three Archers podcasts joined us under one roof, or at least one Zoom link. One Stiletto in the Grave opened proceedings with Jane James and Sunny Ormonde, aka Lilian Bellamy herself, All About The Archers hosted a session with scriptwriters Liz John and Keri Davies, and DumTeeDum brought the weekend to a close with a live recording.
The programme
Conference Friday evening special event - One Stiletto in the Grave podcast recording, Jane James, Sunny Ormonde, with VIP Ambridgian Guests
Love and Loathe 2024, Jill Manasseh
Ambridge Talks Climate, Claire Astbury
Carbon baseline - where is Ambridge now and what needs to change in the future?, Vic Grattidge
The effect of charging stations in rural communities, Lucy Bufton
Is everything in the countryside trying to kill you?, Sue Lee
Pints versus 'points': The Archers as TEAL resource, Alex Burgar
Are You Being Served? – The department store in the community, Jane James
Duties of care to the present and the past: Art, race, and reconciliation at Lower Loxley, Tim Vercellotti
To Breed or Not to Breed? That is the problem, Louise Gillies
Law and Disorder: I Fought the Law and the Law Won in Ambridge, Nicola Maxfield
Grandpas are wise, loving and fun – or are they?, Katharine Hoskyn and Deborah Miller
Producing The Archers, Julie Sadler
Scriptwriters in Conversation with All About Ambridge, Keri Davies and Liz John, in conversation with Phillipa and Quentin
Saturday Club Becomes the Sunday Club, Saturday Club, with delegates
DumTeeDum Live, Jacqueline and Stephen, plus special guests Claire Astbury and our very own Cara Courage
2024
Friends House, Euston Road, London
Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April 2024
A number of new faces, the welcome return of some we had not seen in a while, and one of the best years yet. Sunny Ormonde and Jane James headlined with a live recording of One Stiletto in the Grave, joined by a special visitor or two from Ambridge, and Sunday brought the traditional Live Listen.
The programme
Love and Loathe, Philippa Manasseh
Locating where we are: the psychogeography of Ambridge
Beyond the Bypass: the functions of Ambridge's alter-space, Leslie Carlin and Simon Coleman
The Felpersham Canal: An Asset Beyond Ambridge, Paul Rodgers
Pot Pourri
Moral Quagmire, Ruth Heilbronn and Rosalind Janssen
Happiness is the perfect kitchen, Philippa Jill Manasseh
'If listening to the birds for five minutes makes you feel better, good for you': Wellbeing, gardens and environmental activity, Camilla Royle and Lily Whittle
Locating how we are: how we experience The Archers
We the Fandom: applying fandom theory to the Academic Archers DumTeeDum Mash Up weekend 2023, Caroline Birks
The Ambridge in My Mind's Eye, Carolyn Cooper
Aristotle's Poetics fuel Ambridge Drama, Sally Knights
Pot Pourri
Funeral Directing in the UK through an Ambridge lens, Abi Pattenden
It's a ferret Ferris wheel! Depictions of human-animal interactions and animal welfare in The Archers, The Tams, Tamzin Furtado and Tamsin Durston
The Ambridge Family
The only gay in the village? Queer(y)ing family in rural Borsetshire, Peter Matthews
A tractor and family overturned: the death of John Archer on 25 February 1998, and the ongoing implications of this untimely event, Deborah Miller and Meg Burton
Mia and Brad are doing four A levels: will widening participation in higher education finally hit Ambridge?, Janette Myers
Looking after the Penny Hassets so the Pounds look after themselves, Katherine Jennings and Vikki Barry Brown
Pot Pourri
Grey Gables, did it need to close during renovation?, Katharine Hoskyn
Make Every Contact/Episode Count, Jane Lothian
The Men of Ambridge
He's his father's son, in word or deed?, Katharine Hoskyn and Deborah Miller
'A man had two sons': A sort of sermon on Luke 15 v 11, Jonathan Hustler
The Playboy, the Father, the Scholar and the Brute: Ambridge Masculinities in Historical Perspective, Jessica Meyer
The Ambridge Family, part two
The Glass Floor in Ambridge: How does privilege endure?, Claire Astbury
Educating Emma?, Nicola Maxfield
I look down on him: From Lord Netherborn to David Archer to Tracey Horrobin, class in Ambridge, does it reflect the English experience?, Christine Narramore
Neurodiversity in Ambridge
Living in a neurodiverse household: why accurate representation in storylines makes a difference, Andrea Hart
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves, Helen Burrows and Louise Gillies
Leaving on a song
From Obscurity to Alternative Nation Anthem: The Story of Barwick Green, Sally Cadle
Tunes and transitions at the tearoom, Emily Baker and Freya Jarman
2023
Birmingham Town Hall and Symphony Hall, and the BBC Mailbox
Friday 21 to Sunday 23 April 2023
Two groups, two favourite formats, one very good weekend. Friday began with a cosy evening at the BBC Mailbox with the One Stiletto in the Grave team, Jane James and Sunny Ormonde, talking about the friendships that have grown out of being an Archers fan, with an invited audience of those who had a story to share. Saturday brought a full day of papers by the fans for the fans, and Sunday the all important Live Listen followed by a live recording of that week's DumTeeDum. Along the way we raised a round of applause for Angela Piper, our own Jennifer Aldridge, and kept Craft Corner busy from start to finish.
The programme
Material Culture: crafting, cooking, and show us your makes
Leisure pursuits in Ambridge, Jacqueline Bertho
An Everyday Story of Country Cooking, Jean Sheward
Births, deaths and Jenny Darling
She is her Mother's Daughter, but does she mean to be?, Katharine Hoskyn and Deborah Miller
Death in Ambridge, Meg Burton
Thank you, Jenny Darling, a round of applause for Angela Piper and Jennifer Aldridge
The Data Set: drilling down into the detail of Ambridge life
We told you so! Developments in the Aldridge and Horrobin family fortunes since 2017, looking towards the future, Helen Burrows and Louise Gillies
It's Good To Talk, David Killen
Ambridge Networks, 2023 edition, Nicola Headlam
Heard and Unheard: the sounds and silents in Ambridge
Extending the scope: a post-humanist exploration of recent events in Ambridge, Maggie and Flora Mary Bartlett
Production discourse in The Archers: How to ensure domestic violence is not aurally sensationalised by sound design, Stuart McNally
We Need to Talk About Ben, Ruairi, Brian: the men in Ambridge in crisis
'How about we have a sit down on this bench': An analysis of how Joy employed effective Mental Health First Aid during Ben's breakdown, Claire Astbury
Panel and audience discussion of the mental health of the men in Ambridge, with DumTeeDum's Lonny Behar, aka Witherspoon, and Academic Archers' Karen Pollock
Bricks, mortar, and a window
A local village for local people: why Ambridge does not sprawl, Nic Maxfield
Writing to the Bishop: how not to get a Faculty, Felicity Macdonald-Smith
Early Years, University Years and Twilight Years
Schooling in Borsetshire and Education in Rural England, Corinna Richards
Fun, Learning and Farming at the University of Felpersham, The Saturday Group
Lifelong Learning at the Laurels in 2100, Rosalind Janssen and Ruth Heilbronn
Sunday brought the Archers Sunday Omnibus Live Listen and a live DumTeeDum recording with Roifield Brown, Jacqueline Bertho and special guest Sunny Ormonde.
2022
We did not meet in 2022, the only year since we began without a conference. Normal service, and Ambridology, resumed in Birmingham the following spring.
2021
Online, at the University of Felpersham, Borsetshire, and in The Bull and Brookfield Barn, aka Zoom
19 to 21 February 2021
Lockdown moved us to Zoom, and the University of Felpersham threw open its doors, mottoes, crests and all. What might have been a thin year turned out to be one of our most inventive, with chair yoga, a wine glass, and a heartfelt award for everyone who kept the Saturday Omnibus going when we could not meet in person.
The awards
The Samantha Walton Award for Best Title
Lou Gillies, Alice Through the Wine Glass
Best Broadsheet Article on The Archers
Charlotte Higgins, for A peculiarly English epic: the weird genius of The Archers
Outstanding Efforts in Pandemic Solidarity
The Prefects, for sustaining the Saturday Omnibus
Most Excellent Wellness Activity
Catherine Valentine, for Chair Yoga from Spiritual Home
2020
The University of Reading, with a Friday evening takeover of the Museum of English Rural Life
Friday 28 February to Sunday 1 March 2020
We opened with a pop-up exhibition of all things Archers in the MERL collection, a tour of the galleries and a buffet dinner, and on Saturday night DumTeeDum's hilarious and erudite Lucy V Freeman gave us her Year in Ambridge as after dinner speaker. Sunday brought the Live Listen and another assault on the world record for the Tweetalong. Nobody in the room knew it, but this would be our last in-person gathering for three years.
The awards
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Helen Burrows, Cult and Culture: Transformative Fandom de dum de dum de dum
'We've been waiting for you'
Gary Gilday, Ambridge vs. Springfield
The Dr Samantha Walton 'Cider with Grundy' Award for Best Title
Sarah Kate Merry, When the Script Hits the Fan: When Archers fans stop listening, and why they can't completely keep away
Down with the Fans
Karen Pollock, 'They Needed Counselling', and Jerome Turner, 'I hate The Archers because…', a conference intervention
The programme
Family: power and influence
The 2020 network: One in, One Out, Nicola Headlam (keynote)
Parents, siblings, and the pursuit of power: Predicting the future leaders of Ambridge, Timothy Vercellotti
'From the moment those two joined the committee it's been grunge bands, sumo wrestlers and souffle competitions': What Ambridge's civil society says about UK politics in 2019, Amy Sanders
'If you have security, Ed, that is everything'. Deconstructing 'security' as a buffer against life's challenges, Lalage Cambell
The law of the land, land law and family dynamics in The Archers, Elizabeth Campion
Family dynamics: wellbeing and mental health, Talking Cures
'They Needed Counselling', Karen Pollock
The healing powers of everyday country folk: The Archers? Better than therapy!, Fiona Starr
Ageing in Ambridge
Psychological Wellbeing in Retirement: What The Archers tell us, Bronwen Williams
Can't Afford the Laurels? Care Provision in Ambridge in 2041, Ruth Heilbronn and Rosalind Janssen
Why are the residents of Ambridge so financially gullible, and what can we do about it?, Joanna Gray
The fandom panel
Fans, Flouncers, Fundamentalists: Customs and belief systems of The Archers online fanbase, Claire Astbury
Cult and Culture: Transformative Fandom de dum de dum de dum, Helen Burrows
Gauging Guerrilla Academia: Exploring the impact of the Academic Archers conference, Carenza Lewis
When the Script Hits the Fan: When Archers fans stop listening, and why they can't completely keep away, Sarah Kate Merry
'I hate The Archers because…', a conference intervention, Jerome Turner
Intertextual Lucky Dip
Rude mechanicals: Professional representations of the 'amateur' in The Archers pantomime, Hamish Fyfe
Baddies in wheelchairs and the Disneyfication of Disability, Pauline Eyre
An overview of management styles in The Archers, with a discussion of Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y applied to the Ambridge workforces, Lucinda Bufton
Sunday Best
Bringing Ambridge to an Ancient Egyptian Village, Rosalind Janssen
Ambridge vs. Springfield, Gary Gilday
A divided village: a narrative study using a theoretical lens of speculative ontology, M Bartlett
So you want to be a vicar?, Jonathan R Hustler
2019
The University of Sheffield
Friday 5 to Sunday 7 April 2019
A weekend that ranged from agri-business to the causes of crime, from the church flower rota to the Elixir of Youth, and closed with a session on death and dying that was, against all odds, an absolute delight.
The awards
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Rob Drummond, Are you actually related? A linguistic family case study of the male Grundys
Keeping it Highbrow
Hannah Marije Altorf, 'This isn't about curry, Alistair': Shula Hebden-Lloyd and Iris Murdoch on Love
Most Controversial
Sarah Kate Merry, 'Almost without exception they are shown in their relation to men': Ambridge women and their conversations
The Most Ambridge
Sara Long, Pint of Shires, the Elixir of Youth?
The Dr Samantha Walton 'Cider with Grundy' Award for Best Title
Charlotte Bilby, And it's Burns, Burns, Burns: The rural policeman comes around
The programme
Agri-business and agro-business: the professional and the political of Ambridge enterprises
What to do when you're no longer Borsetshire's Business Person of the Year, or How to handle a scandal, Olivia Vandyk
Borsetshire Businessman or Feckless Farmer?, Christine Narramore
Is Ambridge Parish Council fit for purpose? The Localism Act (2011) and its impact on decision-making and governance in a small rural community, Christine Michael
Hot Fuzz: crime and the causes of crime
And it's Burns, Burns, Burns: The rural policeman comes around, Charlotte Bilby
'We should have called him Damien': A discussion of the impact of Henry Archer's early years on potential crimes of the future, Nicola Maxfield
Women of Ambridge Redux: sisters are doing it for themselves?
Queering Shula, Karen Pollock
Engineers as earth mothers: can fiction plough a furrow for female participation?, Fiona Gleed
The pipeline of future UK scientists: Ambridge and the STEM gender imbalance, Jane Turner and Clare Warren
'Almost without exception they are shown in their relation to men': Ambridge women and their conversations, Sarah Kate Merry
'Oh baby!' Unplanned pregnancy and a woman's right to choose, Carolynne Henshaw
'This isn't about curry, Alistair': Shula Hebden-Lloyd and Iris Murdoch on Love, Hannah Marije Altorf
Rural Identities: the cultural world of Ambridge
A History of Ambridge in 100 Objects, Felicity Macdonald-Smith
Queering Lower Loxley, Cara Courage
The church flower rota, so who is doing the flowers these days?, Felicity Hall
Ambridge: All the World's a Stage?, Nicola Boyle
Are you actually related? A linguistic family case study of the male Grundys, Rob Drummond
Potpourri
New Zealand: antipodes or alter ego?, Katharine Hoskyn
Pint of Shires, the Elixir of Youth?, Sara Long
Post-mortem: live long and prosper?
From kitchens to smartphones: Updating our understanding of The Archers listening practices in the digital age, Jerome Turner
'Not with a bang, but with a whimper?': attitudes to death and dying in The Archers, Abi Pattenden
Death at Ambridge Hall: How The Archers demonstrates the impact on owners when they lose animals, Bronwen Williams
A series of unfortunate events? Mortality and medical incident in a small Borsetshire village, Rob Stepney
2018
The British Library, London
Our second London conference, and our first in a national institution. All the papers were filmed and are on our YouTube channel, with huge thanks to John Popham for his tireless AV work.
The awards
Universally Acknowledged, a prize for high praise in peer review
Claire Astbury, Rich Relatives or Ambridge Fairy? Patronage and expectation in Ambridge housing pathways
Least Ambridge Paper in the World Ever
James Armstrong, Ambridgology and Counter-insurgency doctrine
The Dr Samantha Walton 'Cider with Grundy' Award for Best Title
Rachel Daniels and Annie Maddison Warren, Heavy Petting: An Examination of Metaphoric Relationships with Pets
Prize for Audience Participation
Helen Burrows, The Morris in The Archers, and The Archers in The Morris
The programme
Ambridgonomics: the housing crisis in Borsetshire
Rich Relatives or Ambridge Fairy? Patronage and expectation in Ambridge housing pathways, Claire Astbury
Staying in the Spare Room: Social Connectedness and Household Co-residence in The Archers, Paula Fomby
Ambridgonomics: placemaking and shaping
Set in aspic? Ambridge rural placemaking in a place of contested politics and conflicted identity, Cara Courage
Can rural proofing make life in Ambridge better?, Sally Shortall and Anne Liddon
Wildcards
Ambridgology and Counter-insurgency doctrine, James Armstrong
Heavy Petting: An Examination of Metaphoric Relationships with Pets, Rachel Daniels and Annie Maddison Warren
Said and Unsaid
Jim Lloyd: Quomodo Latine loqui facit? (how does he pronounce Latin?), Catherine Sangster
Foucault, Freda Fry and the power of silent characters on the radio, Rebecca Wood
Accent and identity in Ambridge, Rob Drummond
Wildcards
Their Names Liveth Forevermore: Recreating the Ambridge War Memorial, Jessica Meyer
Unique Borsetshire climate or exemplary sun protection?, Nicola Boyle, Tanya Bleiker, Nick Levell and Nina Goad
The Morris in The Archers, and The Archers in The Morris, Helen Burrows
Ambridgistas: lives of Ambridge women
Does The Archers reflect contemporary values on gender and sexuality?, Bill Pitt
'I am woman, hear me roar, and now watch me play cricket!', Katharine Hoskyn
Sow's ears and silk purses: upcycling and The Archers, Madeleine Lefebvre
Strong or Silenced? The Under-Representation of Mental Health Problems in Ambridge's Women, Elizabeth Campion
Ambridgistas: women's talk?
In praise of gossip: why tongue-wagging and the rumour mill are important in Ambridge, Louise Gillies
Neighbourhood Watch: Gossip, Power and the Working-Class Matriarch in The Archers, Claire Mortimer
Discussant, Charlotte Martin, actor, aka Dr Charlotte Connor, research psychologist
Pot Pourri
It's Not Cricket: Fibbing in The Archers, Ruth Heilbronn and Rosalind Janssen
Fear, fecklessness and flapjacks: imagining Ambridge's offenders, Charlotte Bilby
Paths to the polling station at the village hall: Social networks and voting in Ambridge, Timothy Vercellotti
2017
The University of Lincoln
The year the conference went live to the world, with huge thanks to the University of Lincoln team for the livestreaming, the use of their radio station for down the line interviews, and the films of every session, all now on YouTube. Two keynotes: Professor Jennifer Brown on the antecedents of the domestic violence perpetrator, and, in a first for us, The Archers production team themselves, with Hannah Ratcliffe and Jenny Thompson spooling back through the programme's archive.
The awards
The Dr Samantha Walton 'Cider with Grundy' Award for Best Title
Katherine Runswick-Cole and Rebecca Wood, Bag of the Devil: the disablement of Rob Titchener
The programme
Genteel Country Hobbies? Chaired by Cara Courage
'My parsnips are bigger than your parsnips': The negative aspects of competing at flower and produce shows, Rachel J. Daniels and Annie Maddison Warren
'Big telephoto lens, small ticklist': birdwatching, class and masculinity in Ambridge, Joanna Dobson
The Ambridge Paradox: inverse correlations between cake consumption and incidence of metabolic disorders in a defined rural population, Christine Michael
Educating Ambridge. Chaired by Nicola Headlam
Ambridge as Metaphor: Sharing the mission and values of a 21st century library, Madeleine Lefebvre (quick pitch)
We Don't Need No Education: the absence of primary education in The Archers, Jane Turner and Grant Bage
Phoebe goes to Oxford, Felicity Macdonald-Smith (quick pitch)
The Geography of Ambridge. Chaired by Carenza Lewis
'I'm an Archer, get me out of here!': assessing Ambridge's flood resilience, Angela Connelly
After the Flood: how can Ambridge residents develop resilience to future flooding?, Fiona Gleed
'No, he's not dead, he just moved to Birmingham': Geography and Identity in The Archers, Tom Nicholls
Helen 'n' Rob. Chaired by Cara Courage
Bag of the devil: the disablement of Rob Titchener, Katherine Runswick-Cole and Becky Wood
Culinary Coercion: Nurturing Traditional Gender Roles in Ambridge, Amber Medland
Coercive and controlling relationships: the case of Helen and Rob, Elizabeth Campion
Soundtrack to a stabbing: what Rob's choice of music over dinner tells us about why he ended up spilling the custard, Freya Jarman and Emily Baker
Forensic Blood Pattern Analysis at Blossom Hill Cottage, Anna-Marie O'Connor
Dietary provision for pregnancy and lactation in women's prisons: an illustration from the case of Helen Archer, Caroline Taylor
Keynote
Rob is not a monster: understanding the antecedents of the domestic violence perpetrator, using The Archers coercive controlling behaviour storyline as a case study, Jennifer Brown
Power Relationships. Chaired by Katherine Runswick-Cole
Does personal and social status affect perceptions of physicality? Or, The Archers and big willies, Alastair Goode and Cara Courage
Ambridge, a case study in using genograms to assess family dysfunctionality, Louise Gillies and Helen M Burrows
The Small Worlds of Ambridge: Power, Networks and Actants, Nicola Headlam
Keynote
Spooling back 66 years: an exploration of The Archers archive, Hannah Ratcliffe and Jenny Thompson, BBC Radio 4 The Archers
Bereavement and Spirituality. Chaired by Carenza Lewis
'God in Ambridge': The Archers as Rural Theology, Jonathan Hustler
Freddie Pargetter, underachiever?, Rosalind Janssen and Ruth Heilbronn
The Archers as lieux de mémoire of the Great War in Britain, Jessica Meyer
Ambridge Online. Chaired by Cara Courage
'An everyday story of country folk' online? The marginalisation of the Internet and social media in The Archers, Lizzie Coles-Kemp and Debi Ashenden
The importance of social media in modern Borsetshire life: domestic and commercial, Olivia Vandyk
Being @borsetpolice: proposing an (auto)ethnographic understanding of Archers fan fiction on Twitter, Jerome Turner
2016
The University of Liverpool in London
The one that started it all. A single day, a room full of people who had never quite admitted out loud how seriously they took a radio drama, and a keynote from Professor Lyn Thomas that set the tone for everything since. Also the year Dr Samantha Walton gave us 'Cider with Grundy', a title so good we named an award after it.
The programme
Nostalgic Englishness, the rural everyday and high drama: The Archers in the 21st Century, Lyn Thomas (keynote)
Mapping Ambridge, Christopher Perkins
Rural Voices: What can Borsetshire tell us about accent change?, William Barras
Cider with Grundy: On Orchards and the Commonplace in Ambridge, Samantha Walton
From Dr Locke's Professional Boundaries to Carol's Confession: On Medical Ethics in The Archers, Deborah Bowman
Tony's troubles: back-pain amongst agricultural workers and design improvements, Neil Mansfield and Lauren Morgan
The dis/appearance of disability, or why Bethany had to leave Ambridge, Katherine Runswick-Cole
An everyday story of dysfunctional families: using The Archers in Social Work Education, Helen Burrows
Heather Pet, a dramatic end to ongoing lack of good social care, Jo Moriarty
Dig The Archers: what community archaeological excavations can achieve in places like Ambridge, Carenza Lewis and Clemency Cooper
Scenes from the Feudal System in Ambridge: The Archers as Anti-Utilitarian Medievalism, Philippa Byrne
'Seeming, seeming': Othello, reputation, and Rob Titchener, Abi Pattenden
Lynda Snell as Archetypal Class Warrior, Peter Matthews