Shulas Story: The Life And Loves Of One Of The Archers’ Favourite Characters

B B S J O A N N A TOYE SHULA’S STORY THE LIFE AND LOVES OF ONE OF THE ARCHERS’ FAVOURITE CHARACTERS t--. . P e n g u in B ooks BBC B ooks Shula’s Story Joanna Toye joined the production team of The Archers in 1980, after leaving Cambridge University. From 1984 to 1988 she wrote for, among others, BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and Central Television’s Crossroads. She then became the programme’s Senior Producer in 1992. Currently working as a freelance writer/producer, she lives in Birmingham together with her daughter. T h is hook belongs to Isabel P o tter ©W&GLtd J o a n n a T oye H U L A ’S STORY P e n g u in B o o k s BBC B o o k s FOR OLIVIA AND FOR POPPY. This book is published to accompany the Radio 4 serial entitled The Archers. The Editor of The Archers is Vanessa Whitburn. P enguin Books BBC Books Published by the Penguin Group and BBC Worldwide Ltd Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books USA Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published by BBC Books, a division of BBC Worldwide Publishing 1995 Published with an additional chapter in Penguin Books 1996 13579108642 Copyright © Joanna Toye, 1995, 1996 All rights reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted n a a BBC used under licence Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser A cknowledgements must thank Heather Holden-Brown of BBC Worldwide and my editor, Caroline Plaisted, for their encouragement during the writing of this book. Camilla Fisher, Archivist of The Archers, helped me enormously in teasing out details of Shula’s early history, and the Editor of The Archers, Vanessa Whitburn, has been unstinting in her support, without which I would simply not have been able to undertake the project. Thanks are due also to the wider production team of The Archers, past and present, the writers, including Debbie Cook, Mary Cutler, Simon Frith, Graham Harvey, Caroline Harrington, Susan Hill, Peter Kerry, Helen Leadbeater, Mick Martin, Louise Page and William Smethurst, and, of course, the cast, not least Judy Bennett as Shula, who have between them created the very seductive place which is Ambridge. I J oanna T oye T L e A rd ie a T F a m ilyy T, iLree John Archer m Phoebe John Benjamin m Simone Delamain (B en) 1900-1929 27.5.1898-2.8.1972 Frank m Laura Wilson 1.6.1900- 29.8.191130.5.1957 14.2.1985 Daniel m Doris 15.10 189611.7.189023.4.1986 27.10.1980 (1) John (Jack) m Margaret (Peggy) Perkins 17.12.1922-12.1.1972 b.13.11.1922 Jennifer m (l)R oger b.7.1.1945 Travers-Macy b.9.3.1944 div. Feb 1976 Lilian m (1) Lester b.8.7.1947 Nicholson 7.6.194618.3.1970 Anthony William m Pat Lewis Daniel (Tony) b. 10.1.1952 b.16.2.1951 m (2 ) Ralph Bellamy j 26.2.1925-18.1.1980 Adam b. 22.6.1967 Deborah b. 24.12.1970 m (2 ) Brian Aldridge b. 20.11.1943 Katherine Victoria (Kate) b.30.9.1977 Alice Margaret b.29.9.1988 James Rodney Dominic b. 30.3.1973 Jo