Pet Shop Boys to Make Guest Appearance in British Radio Soap Opera 'The Archers'

The Pet Shop Boys with Archers actors Ian Pepperell, Alison
Dowling and Carole Boyd.

The Pet Shop Boys are going to save the day at Loxfest, the fictional music festival featured in BBC Radio 4's farming soap opera The Archers.

It has been one disaster after another for Loxfest, as all-girl band Honey Storm pulled out and headlining act Quaintance Smith was cut from the bill after accusations of domestic abuse. In Thursday's episode of the drama , Elizabeth Pargetter, owner of the Lower Loxley estate, and fellow organizer Roy Tucker were despairing over the future of their food and music festival when the bruises appeared on the arm of the girlfriend of Quaintance Smith's lead singer.

Friday's episode announced the Pet Shop Boys would step in as the festival's last-minute headliners, alongside a mixture of fictional bands such as the Velvet Cowshed and Hideous Wellies.

Listen to the moment Roy gave Elizabeth the news:



Neil Tenant and Chris Lowe – both long-term Archers fans - said: "It's a thrill for us to enter the world of The Archers, the UK's most famous radio drama."

Other more familiar names appearing on the Loxfest bill include Sheffield's indie-pop duo Slow Club and Luke Sital-Singh. Producers recruited BBC Radio 6 Music host Steve Lamacq to help curate the festival.

Lamacq, a regular listener to The Archers, said: "Loxfest is The Archers storyline we've been waiting for. As someone who spends a lot of time covering festivals for the BBC, it was one we really wanted to be involved with. So when we first heard the rumours about the festival at the start of the year, we offered up our services, helping to suggest bands that might fit the bill. I'd have probably have gone down and helped them put up the security fencing if they'd asked.

"I've been a fan of The Archers off and on for more than a decade, but got hooked again about three years ago. You'd be surprised how many Archers fans there are in the music industry. Even the former stage manager at Reading festival would come up to me and ask to borrow my pocket radio when The Archers omnibus came on.

The special guest appearance by Pet Shop Boys, which was recorded at London's Maida Vale Studios last month, will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday night.

Other celebrities that have appeared on world's longest-running radio soap opera on the air include Dame Judi Dench, Alan Titchmarsh, Richard Griffiths and Princess Margaret. The Archers premiered in 1951 and is the second longest-running soap opera in history, only behind Guiding Light, which aired 75 years on radio and television in the United States.