The Archers Rich (piano) and Norman Parker (percussion). Robert Robinson once compared the tune to "the genteel abandon of a lifelong teetotaller who has suddenly taken to drink". On April Fool's Day 2004 both "The Independent" and "The Today Programme" claimed that BBC executives had commissioned composer Brian Eno to record an electronic version of "Barwick Green" as a replacement for the current theme, while comedian Billy Connolly included in his act the joke that the theme was so typically British that it should be the national anthem of the United Kingdom. In 2009, comedian Rainer Hersch conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in
The Archers its recurring "The Archers Accidentally" sketches; the sketches claim to portray "The Archers" the way it sounds to people who only listen to the show inadvertently. The radio series of "Dead Ringers" has frequently parodied characters from "The Archers", including a special edition. The subtitle was parodied by Bill Tidy in his long-running cartoon of "The Cloggies", "an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk", which ran in the satirical magazine "Private Eye", and later in "The Listener". In addition to books and audiobooks, purported maps of Ambridge and Borsetshire have been published. An episode of "Arena", broadcast