How an everyday story of farming folk moved to Africa

The typical African village doesn't share much in common with Ambridge.

Recently in The Archers all focus has been on rehearsals for the annual panto and the biggest headache for director Lynda Snell has been the lack of serious commitment from her cast of volunteers. When one recently disappeared from rehearsals to go build a bonfire, it almost pushed her over the edge.

A few thousand miles away in a remote Ugandan village, outside of the mining town of Tororo, the community faces much bigger concerns. The economy remains on a knife edge, domestic violence has turned many women into silent victims and as politicians seek re-election, the vote is likely to be mired in bribery and corruption.

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However, despite the apparent lack of similarities, the long-running Radio 4 soap has provided inspiration for one Sheffield Hallam academic, who is hoping to bring her own version of Ambridge to Africa.

"When The Archers first started it was a way of teaching people about modern farming methods. It was what we now call info-tainment," says Jane Rogers, professor of writing at the university and a woman who already has numerous radio adaptations under her belt.

"There's a radio drama in Nigeria called Story Story which has been going for 15 years now. It was initially started to educate listeners about HIV and Aids, but it has since developed a life of its own.

"Addressing contemporary issues through radio drama is something that I've been interested in for quite a while. I wasn't sure I'd ever get a chance to put my ideas into practice, but then out of the blue I got an email from a former student who had returned to Uganda and was working with a domestic violence charity."

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Atuki Turner had studied for an MA with Prof Rogers and was contacting her former lecturer for a reference. However, the email ended up reigniting a partnership which had begun years before in Sheffield.

"I had a look at the charity's website and saw it was keen to get its message out to as wide an audience as possible," says Prof Rogers. "I just thought a radio drama would be a wonderful medium and it turned out Atuki had been thinking exactly the same thing."

Add in the services of Clive Brill, a former Archers producer and the trio, funded by a British Academy grant, began work on an Ambridge-inspired soap for Africa. First thing was to decide on a cast of characters which ordinary African listeners would recognise and a dozen or so storylines, which had a long shelf-life should the initial 10-part pilot prove successful.

"The characters range from a sulky teenager called Posh, whose mother has brought her from the bright lights of Kampala back to village life where she mourns the lack of electricity and running water to a kindly priest, Father Antonio, whose peaceful life is blighted by the arrival of his scheming alcoholic brother," says Prof Rogers, who worked with five Ugandan writers to bring the scripts to life. "Also, it wouldn't be a proper radio soap without a charming villain, so we have a politician called Teco, which means 'trouble' in the local language.

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"The serial aims to reflect contemporary Ugandan concerns; like every other politician in the country, Teco is up for re-election next year and naturally bribery is an issue and domestic violence is also a running theme. In Uganda, there is a custom known as Bride Price, where the groom pays the family of his wife as a form of compensation for their perceived loss.

"The bride is effectively seen as a commodity and is often subjected to horrific beatings by her husband if he thinks she is not keeping to her side of the bargain by working hard enough.

"Hopefully the stories we tell will show there is a way out, that it doesn't have to be that way."

When the scripts were finished, the team put a call out for local actors and with the finishing touches just about done, Mako-mere (Making Friends) is set to air on Tororo radio in the new year.

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"It was important for us to involve the community," says Prof Rogers. "The theme tune for the series is sung by the cast, led by an 82-year-old and each episode contains live music performed by local women and children from the village schools. We've also trained a team of writers and technicians so that if our own African Archers is a hit, it's something they will have the know-how to continue it."