Borsetshire Borsetshire Borsetshire is a fictional county in the BBC Radio 4 series "The Archers". Its county town is the equally fictional Borchester. The county is supposedly set between Worcestershire and Warwickshire, but is also intended as a generic West Midlands rural county. Its name also echoes Anthony Trollope's fictional Barsetshire and the real Dorsetshire. Other places in the county include Ambridge, where "The Archers" is mainly set, Lower Loxley, a nearby village and Felpersham, a cathedral city which appears to be larger than Borchester. Ambridge is on the B3980 six miles south of Borchester and seventeen miles west of Felpersham.
Soap opera creation of somewhat similar suburban and family or teen-oriented soap operas such as "Home and Away" (1988–present) on Channel Seven and "Richmond Hill" (1988) on Channel Ten. Both proved popular, however "Richmond Hill" emerged as only a moderate success and was cancelled after one year to be replaced on Ten by "E Street" (1989–1993). Nine continued trying to establish a successful new soap opera, without success. After the failure of family drama "Family and Friends" in 1990, it launched the raunchier and more extreme "Chances" in 1991, which resurrected the sex and melodrama of "Number 96" and "The Box" in