The Archers which affect farmers nationwide when livestock movements are restricted. Many famous people have made cameo appearances on the programme: The theme tune of "The Archers" is called "Barwick Green" and is a maypole dance from the suite "My Native Heath", written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood. The Sunday omnibus broadcast of "The Archers" starts with a more rustic, accordion-arranged rendition by The Yetties. The theme for BBC Radio 4 Extra's "The Archers" spinoff, "Ambridge Extra", is a version arranged by Bellowhead. A library music recording of Barwick Green was used for the pilot and during the early
The Archers subsequently on the BBC Home Service (now Radio 4). Early afternoon repeats of the previous evening's episode began on 14 December 1964. The original scriptwriters were Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason, who were also working on the nightly thriller series about the special agent Dick Barton. The popularity of his adventures partly inspired "The Archers", which eventually took over Barton's evening slot. At first, however, the national launch placed the serial at the 'terrible' time of 11.45am, but it moved to Dick Barton's former slot of 6.45pm from Monday, 2 April 1951. An omnibus edition of the week's episodes