"Barwick Green" /ˈbærɪk/ is the theme music to the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. A "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood, it is named after Barwick-in-Elmet in Yorkshire's West Riding.
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The recording used between 1950 and the 1990s was played by Sidney Torch and his orchestra. Sidney Torch recorded a commercial version of "Barwick Green" in the 1950s, but it was not used on The Archers itself.
The familiar opening 7 notes are echoed in the pizzicato in Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, written in 1934.
The Sunday omnibus broadcast of The Archers starts with a more rustic, accordion-arranged rendition by The Yetties, while BBC Radio 4 Extra's former spinoff, Ambridge Extra, used a version arranged by Bellowhead.
References
- "Feedback". Autumn 2007. 5 October 2007. BBC Radio 4.
- "Sidney Torch & Orchestra - Barwick Green (Archers Theme)". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- The Yetties (1997). Upmarket. Track 1. Decca SKL 5282.
- Gonsalves, Rebecca (1 January 2011). "60 things you never knew you wanted to know about The Archers". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- Heritage, Stuart (5 April 2011). "TV theme tunes: don't mess with the best". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
External links
- Item about Woods and "Barwick Green" on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, 24 June 2011, at 18m27s. By chance, the clip begins with the final seconds of the evening's The Archers, so Barwick Green is heard.
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