A local BBC version of The Archers which is scripted and voiced by just one man came to an end yesterday after 40 years on the airwaves.
Gerry Hughes, 58, started his one-man soap opera Acrebury for hospital radio in 1974 before it moved to BBC Radio Wiltshire in the 1990s.
He has recorded more than 2,000 episodes from his bedroom, juggling the voices of more than 85 characters at a time to create the fictional Wiltshire village.
Mr Hughes, a retired music librarian, said: "During the BBC years there were an awful lot of characters. I counted 85 at one point. Acrebury is full of gossip, scandal, affairs, murder, laughter, tears – just everyday life.I'd say doing the voices is like blending colours, like blending two colours to make a third.
"He added: "I think I'll be glad for the rest when it is all over. I think I'll always wonder what the residents of Acrebury are up to – who's been born, who's died, what everyone's up to – but I think they'll go on living their lives somewhere.
"The 40th anniversary seemed like a good time to bring it to an end, and start living life in the real world."
At its peak in the mid-90s Acrebury was the most listened to show on BBC Radio Wiltshire, attracting 4,000 listeners a day from as far a field as the Channel Islands. Every one of the 2,147 episodes has been written and produced by Gerry who recorded the voices of each character before mixing them together and adding sound effects.
Running through his favourite characters Mr Hughes, from Chippenham, said: "I very muTwitterch like Fred Partridge because you can do with you like with him. He's a proper old strong Wiltshire-man he is. He is obnoxious and that's what I like because I like to think I'm not actually obnoxious.
"Berry Barrett, she's a lovely dear old warm granny figure and she's 85 and her sister would be Carrie and she's a little bit more broad.
"But if I take the high pitch back up again and make it a little bit older and give her a little bit of class I've got Dorothy Cotterill, but then Linda Harcourt, she's a little bit deeper so she's got this sort of sexy husky type of voice."
Gerry, who is single, acknowledges his show is often compared to the BBC Radio 4 show The Archers.
"I suppose the comparison is bound to be made because Acrebury was long-running like the Archers and it is based in a country village," said Gerry, who holds the Guiness World Record for the longest running one-man soap opera.
"But I like to think of it being a Wiltshire story, with Wiltshire characters, because I think Wiltshire is as colourful as the Midlands where the Archers is based."
Gerry said he will miss the characters most.
"Although it's a lonely existence doing it, it's the characters that keep me company," he said.
"The characters are as real as they can be to me. Some of them I love, some of them I hate, but then that's the same with people. The nice thing about working by yourself is you don't have to worry about anyone else."
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
