text: Fans of the show might never see what’s going on – but a writer for The Archers has revealed that keeping a bed in the studio is essential for realistic sex scenes. Veteran scriptwriter for the Radio 4 drama, Keri Davies, said that having a divan to hand is vital to make post-coital conversations sound convincing. Speaking during an Afternoon Tea With The Archers event at the weekend, Mr Davies explained: ‘Sex is even harder, as it were. We do have a bed in the studio because your voice sounds different when you are lying down. A writer for The Archers has revealed that keeping a bed in the studio is essential for realistic sex scenes (file picture) ‘There will be a sound engineer in a Led Zeppelin T-shirt rattling the duvet!’ He added that parties in the fictional Ambridge are limited to nine attendees because of budgetary considerations. ‘Sometimes you will hear two people saying “oh we saw Barry the other day”, and that’s because we couldn’t afford Barry,’ he told the audience at Chipping Norton Literary Festival. ‘We can only have 39 actor bookings in a week, which is roughly six or seven in an episode. Sometimes if you have a big party you will have eight or nine, so it is up to us to decide with all of those restrictions how we are going to tell the tales.’ Actor Charles Collingwood, who joined the programme in 1975, also defended the show’s editor Sean O’Connor who has been criticised for ‘sexing up’ the traditional radio serial. He said Mr O’Connor ‘is bringing in really exciting stories’. Mr Davies added that parties in the fictional Ambridge (map pictured) are limited to nine attendees because of budgetary considerations .
target: A bed is kept in The Archers studio to help with realistic sex scenes .
  Scriptwriter said bed is is vital for convincing post-coital conversations .
  He added that parties in fictional Ambridge are limited to nine attendees because of budget constraints .