A COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION LICENCED BY THE BBC
CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
WRITTEN BY TIM STIMPSON
DIRECTED BY JOSEPH O’MALLEY
1 SEPTEMBER – 11 OCTOBER
TICKETS ON SALE HERE
A NEW PLAY COMMISSIONED BY THE BARN & LICENSED BY THE BBC
“A new comedy to celebrate 75 Years of The Archers”
CEO and Artistic Director Iwan Lewis, Executive Director Liam McMullan, and the whole team of the Barn Theatre in Cirencester, are delighted to announce the creative team for the world premiere of Tim Stimpson’s play Haywire – A Not-So-Everyday Story Of How The Archers Was Born (Monday 1 September – Saturday 11 October, with a national press night on Thursday 4 September).
Joiningwriter Tim Stimpson and director Joseph O’Malley will be set and costume designer Alfie Heywood, with lighting design provided by Adam Foley, composer and sound designer will be Amanda Priestley and casting direction will come from Emily Jones and Anthony Houghton.
Casting will be announced in the next few weeks.
This new play, licensed by the BBC, to be performed in the 75th anniversary year of The Archers ahead of the 75th anniversary of The Archers on 1st January 2026, uses the magic of radio drama to whisk the audience back to the halcyon days when public gathered around their wirelesses to listen and lose themselves in the live, trials and tribulations of a fictional farming family.
In a cold British December in 1950, producer Godfrey Baseley assembled a group of actors in a studio above a used car showroom in Birmingham, to record the first ever episode of The Archers. Now, 75 years later, the ‘everyday story of country folk’ remains a proud staple of British pop culture and a fixture at the top of the BBC’s download charts.
Haywire is a fond and funny celebration of one of British media’s most enduring creations, paired with a deep affection for the craft of radio.
It is a love letter to The Archers and the minds that created it – an exclusive invitation to experience the tears and laughter, the triumphs and calamities, that can happen both in front of and behind the mic.
The Archers writer Tim Stimpson said, “It’s been a long-standing ambition of mine to tell the extraordinary story of how a small team of writers, actors and producers recording above a used car showroom in the centre of post-war Birmingham created what is now the world’s longest running soap – sorry, ‘continuing drama’. the Barn is certainly more salubrious than the BBC studios were back then, but I feel the spirit of creativity and ambition is very much the same. I couldn’t be more delighted to be working with them. Plus, how could a play about The Archers be performed anywhere other than a theatre called the Barn?!”
The Archers Editor Jeremy Howe said, “Last Christmas The Archers writer Tim Stimpson and I went tentatively to the Barn Theatre to pitch Haywire, a comedy that is a love song to the early years of Britain’s best loved drama on Radio 4, The Archers, a show which will be seventy-five years young in January 2026. They bit off our hands to commission it. I am delighted for The Archers to be working in partnership with the Barn Theatre, one of the most dynamic and welcoming theatres in the land, and I cannot wait to be sitting in the front row on the opening night of Tim Stimpson’s Haywire.”
Barn Theatre’s CEO and Artistic Director Iwan Lewis and Executive Director and Producer Liam McMullan said, “I’m incredibly excited for the Barn to premiere Haywire as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Archers. As a lifelong listener, it’s thrilling to finally see with our eyes what we’ve listened to for decades. We’re hugely grateful to the BBC for trusting us with one of their most prized assets, and to Tim Stimpson and Jeremy Howe for their belief in the Barn. We’re also thrilled to be back in the rehearsal room with long-time Barn Director Joseph O’Malley, who brings humour and heart and to everything he does.”
The Barn Theatre is an award-winning producing-house in the heart of the Cotswolds, on a mission to inspire communities and champion the power of storytelling.