Gender, Sex and Gossip in Ambridge: Women in The Archers

by Cara Courage (Editor), Nicola Headlam (Editor )

The intrepid team of researchers who brought you Custard, Culverts and Cake: Academics on Life in The Archers return with a hard-hitting exposé on the lives of the women of Ambridge. In this new book, the Archers Academics are joined by former The Archers editor, Alison Hindell and real-life Academic Archer Dr Charlotte Connor (a.k.a. Susan Carter), to examine the power of gossip in Ambridge, portrayals of love, marriage, and motherhood, female education and career expectations, women's mental health and the hard-won right of women to play cricket.

Gender, Sex and Gossip in Ambridge gives the reader a deeper understanding of the real life issues covered in the programme, an insight into the residents of Ambridge, and validation that hours of listening to The Archers is, in fact, academic research.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2019

Reviews

[Prudence and the Crow]

Always here for reading thoughts on The Archers - I found myself wanting to dig into some of this a lot more, and on occasion disagreed fairly strongly with some of the takes that felt superimposed upon characters and scenarios, but that's a good thing, and we should take this seriously, academically, and with strong contemplation, for it's a vital part of the cultural landscape. It felt like it wasn't quite the book it wanted to be in the end, but I hope there'll be more.

[Matthew Fleming]

Diverse and compelling - a great read, and I am so glad books like this exist! Articles at the end are slightly weaker (there's nothing academic about getting people to guess what characters might think), but most of it is so strong and professionally done. I look forward to reading the previous one!