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At The Archers we do like an end of week cliffhanger and we hope you have been enjoying them every Thursday, but honestly there is nothing to beat a dramatic cliffhanger on a Friday to launch the weekend. And now we are set to return to Fridays!

Archers listeners were asked via and what were their favourite cliffhangers from the programme.

Here’s what they said.

Recent favourites have been the explosion at Grey Gables and Kirsty discovering that her husband, Philip, was a slavemaster. For listener Shaza Brannon, Kirsty shouting “Roy, call the police!” at Christmas in 2020 is still ringing in her ears.

Kirsty’s had more than her fair share of episode ending cliffhangers. In 2017 she was told the tragic news that she was having a late miscarriage and back in 2014, Tom told her on their wedding day that he couldn’t marry her after all. Her scream rang out through St. Stephen’s while the congregation waited in the pews for the ceremony to begin. All hail Kirsty, Ambridge's cliffhanger queen!

Read more about Tom and Kirsty's relationship history

Talking of screams, Ambridge’s most infamous is that of Nigel as he fell to his death from the roof of Lower Loxley in 2011. Nicknamed his “death yodel” on 大象传媒 Radio 4’s More or Less it lives on as a phone ringtone for a number of Archers listeners.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that many of the most dramatic Archers cliffhangers as chosen by listeners feature a death. The original fatal cliffhanger is the 1955 death of Grace Archer while trying to rescue a horse from a blazing barn. Legend has it that this cliffhanger was scheduled to thwart the launch of ITV, the UK’s first commercial TV channel. However, Ysanne Churchman who played Grace, said she believed that the timing was actually as a distraction in order to minimise attention on her character’s demise.

Listener Clair Jones remembers where she was when she heard Nic Grundy’s death from sepsis in 2018. She said, “My husband and I were due to attend a leaving do at the pub. We sat in the car outside saying, ‘They can’t let her die, can they?’” In an added twist to the story, just moments before her death Nic admitted to Joe that she was the one responsible for the hit and run which badly injured Matt Crawford four months earlier. That’s what we like to call a double cliffhanger.

Read more about Nic Grundy and how to spot sepsis

Many remember the shock of the death of Shula’s first husband Mark Hebden. In 1994, after Caroline was thrown to the ground when a fast car spooked her horse, Mark drove around the bend, swerved to avoid Caroline and crashed into a tree. Shula and Mark had had trouble conceiving and were on their latest round of IVF when he died. Two days before Mark’s funeral, Shula revealed she was pregnant.

The loss of Pat and Tony’s eldest child, John Archer, in 1998 is remembered for the poignant moment when Tony discovered his son after his tractor had overturned. Having argued with John earlier in the day, remorseful Tony (played by Colin Skipp at the time) tries to keep him warm until help arrives. Uniquely, this cliffhanger was not followed by the usual Barwick Green theme tune but simple birdsong.

Pat Gallimore (Pat Archer): "Everything at Bridge Farm goes back to the death of John"

It’s impossible to think about Archers cliffhangers without Helen and Rob’s coercive control storyline coming to mind. The slow-burning storyline had many dramatic and tense moments but its climax came when Helen stabbed Rob in 2016. “I was convinced Helen and Kirsty were going to bury him in the back garden!” said listener Brigid Spillane. Eighteen months later another high profile moment in the story was the not guilty verdict of Helen’s trial for attempted murder.

Read Helen and Rob: the full story

A top cliffhanger as chosen by Archers listeners is Ruth’s near affair. In 2006 David and Ruth’s marriage hit a rocky patch with David getting back in touch with his ex-fiancée, Sophie. Ruth came to believe that they were having an affair and she poured out all her hurt and sadness to Sam Batton who was working at Brookfield at the time. David apologised and promised never to see Sophie again but feelings continued to develop between Sam and Ruth.

They kissed and said they loved one another. Sam booked a hotel in Oxford and Ruth travelled there under the cover story of visiting an old friend. But when she arrived, Ruth backed out. After that, Sam swiftly resigned from his job at Brookfield.

Read more about Ruth's near affair with Sam

For some Archers listeners a completely different style of ending is their cliffhanger of choice. For example, Laura Matthews said, ”’I’m sorry Helen but Borchester Blue is off the menu’ This is how the episode ended and why I still listen to The Archers”. Meanwhile there were some predictions of future Archers cliffhangers such as Chris Worthing's suggestion of Oliver selling the Grange Farm cider shed to Elon Musk and Gill Hodge's wondering whether Nigel would return... having been in the shower all this time!

The Archers returns to six episodes a week on 大象传媒 Sounds, and Friday evenings on 大象传媒 Radio 4, from Friday 3rd June 2022.