麻豆约拍

I woke yesterday at 10.30am, donned my dressing-gown and went downstairs to the kitchen. By 10.35am, I'd fed the cats. The coffee had been poured by 10.50am. I switched on Radio 4 in time to catch the last few minutes of the penultimate Archers episode. By 11.00am I was bawling my eyes out. That maybe the earliest I've ever burst into tears.

If you're not across the latest happenings in Ambridge, or indeed you're not a listener of the Archers, a quick catch-up. Tony Archer, aided and abetted by Ed, is attempting to bring Otto the bull in from the fields. His grandson Henry is supposedly in the care of Johnny who, at the last minute, accedes to the young boy's demands and takes him out into the yard to see a bull a little closer. Momentarily, Tommy lets go of Henry's hand. Henry runs about a bit, the bull goes mad for a moment. Tony throws himself in between the bull and the small boy. There's a lot of trampling and banging and "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" and quite a lot of screaming. Later, we're in the helicopter hearing the paramedics radio-in Tony's fairly horrific sounding injuries.

I'm personally not that attached to Tony Archer. I do also sometimes find Helen a bit annoying. From time to time, I confess to find Henry quite irritating too (though not as much as Ruari who was in an entirely different league). But there's something in the way Tony's wife Pat at his bedside in A&E telling him in no uncertain terms that he's to battle through the operation because he has to, that makes my legs shake slightly. A lump comes to my throat and I'm off. Tears roll down my cheeks. I'm suddenly aware of two cats sat on the worktop either looking at me with concern, or with vague irritation that their usual morning saucer of milk hasn't been served yet.

When the episode is over at quarter past eleven, I pour the milk and take a moment. I know exactly what I've really been thinking about as I listen to Tony Archer in the yard. In an instant and completely without any warning, I'm transported back 31 years to a similar accident my Dad suffered in our back garden. Contrary to what he was thinking as he was trimming the tops off the trees, there was no additional rung of the ladder available to him. He fell to the ground and smashed his hip. It is the story of my family experience, one which until Sunday morning had been consigned to the 'unusual' category, for sure, but not necessarily 'notable'. All families had their legendary tales, didn't they?

Yes, they do. But when performances on radio delivered with such authenticity and passion take you by surprise when you're in dressing gown first thing on a Sunday morning, the effect is momentarily debilitating. Great radio, like great content on TV or online, has the potential of holding a mirror in front of all us. And it will usually have the greatest impact when we least expect it. Taking a few steps back to acknowledge the steps involved in producing such a personally powerful piece of radio output momentarily reminds me how personally lucky I feel I am.

Jon Jacob is Editor, About the 麻豆约拍 Blog and website

• is broadcast daily on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 at 2.00pm and 7.00pm. An omnibus edition is broadcast on Sundays at 10.00am.
• about radio reporter Felicity Finch, who also plays Ruth Archer in The Archers, and her return trip to Rwanda twenty years after reporting on the genocide.