Remembering Adrian Flynn: a 'generous' and 'bold' writer for The Archers
Adrian Flynn, who died on 13 November 2022 at the age of sixty six, was a script writer on The Archers for almost twenty-five years. He truly was a fine Archers writer.
The Archers Editor Jeremy Howe pays tribute to him.
What makes for a fine Archers writer? It is a particular skill – you need to be collaborative, a team player as opposed to a poet in a garret, you need a thick skin because you will get reams of notes, be fast because time in The Archers is the enemy, you need to be able to write with your own distinctive voice and yet at the same time write with the voice of The Archers.
It is an unusual hybrid of original writing and dramatization – but unlike dramatizing a novel where you know the end, no one knows how The Archers story will end, not even me the editor.
Adrian had all these skills in spades. You could tell an Adrian script instantly – full of quirky comedy but never afraid to confront the big dramatic stories directly, and always utterly suffused in an Ambridge that Adrian knew as if it was his own home and the characters were the neighbours he had been observing and interacting with for years.
'A brilliant team player'
Adrian wasn’t just good at scripting for the Archers, he was a master of the demanding process of writing for the show. Once every four weeks on a Friday lunchtime the production team send out an email to Adrian and his fellow scriptwriters with a fifty page story pack plus a ton of research notes, mostly about where our key farms are heading. Four of the writing team will have been assigned a week of episodes each. They have the weekend to work out what they see as the structure across the week, and then at the monthly script meeting each writer discusses their week with the production team.
Adrian invariably had a very clear idea of where he was heading, but, because this is all work in progress, some things work better than others: Adrian, who was a brilliant team player, would always see solutions not see problems, and was always wonderfully generous about what the other writers were achieving. He was invaluable.
Archers writer first worked with Adrian when he was a producer on the show, directing his episodes in studio. “Adrian’s scripts always ‘just worked’”, he says, “They helped actors find the truth in the drama, while also allowing a playfulness that was unmistakably Adrian’s.”
Later moving to the writing team, Keri worked with Adrian in devising and planning the story of Alistair Lloyd’s gambling addiction. As he remembers: “Adrian’s creativity helped transform my little idea that Alistair might play a few games of poker into a major story that has repercussions to this day".
“Adrian wore his talent lightly and was generous with his praise. Over the years, many of the team received messages from Adrian saying how much he enjoyed our scripts, or our directing. "It's hard to believe that I'll never again open an email to find his regular salutation: Eh up, Keri."
Jeremy Howe continues – “Scripting for The Archers is not for the faint hearted. You have a little over a fortnight to write a detailed synopsis and the first draft of all six episodes. Adrian – who wrote hundreds of episodes for us, and I mean hundreds – was not faint hearted. Far from it, Adrian was a bold writer.
'A masterclass in storytelling'
In my time on The Archers there is one sequence of scenes from 2019 which spring to mind that show Adrian at his boldest best. Adrian needed Brian Aldridge to change his mind about entering a (ridiculous) not guilty plea to poisoning the River Am with toxic waste. He knew he was guilty, we knew he was guilty, but somehow Brian couldn’t bring himself to enter a guilty plea.
On a walk through muddy Ambridge he meets Joe Grundy, his polar opposite and a man he had barely exchanged a word with for decades. They really didn’t get on. The two men talk about families. In a deliciously runic and roundabout way – where neither Brian’s crime nor the impending trial is ever mentioned (which is of course what everyone in Ambridge is talking about), and where Joe has no intention of giving Brian the benefit of his homespun wisdom – Joe inadvertently gives Brian the advice he is looking for. Without ever mentioning the subject again a few days later Brian stands trial and pleads guilty – to save his family further ignominy. It is a masterclass in storytelling, and how to use two unexpected characters to change the direction of the plot.
I read the draft and then phoned Adrian and said, “The scenes are great Adrian but poor Ted Kelsey (the actor who played Joe Grundy) is not at all well. Can you give him far fewer lines and make Brian carry the scene?” I could sort of hear Adrian banging his head against a wall. He told me it was completely impossible, but…he would see what he might do. The next day he delivered the revised scenes which were even better, funnier, stronger. That is what makes for a fine Archers writer – and Adrian was the finest.
All of us loved working with Adrian.
Adrian we are going to so miss you.”
