BBC radio soap The Archers comes to Dubai

Two characters from the popular UK radio soap The Archers recently visited Dubai on holiday.

DUBAI // The city's gleaming towers and lavish shopping malls have turned up in the most unlikely setting yet - The Archers, the world's longest-running soap, which normally confines itself to an imaginary, rural English backdrop.

Generations of Britons have grown up following the much-loved radio series, which runs six days a week on BBC Radio 4 and has been broadcast for more than 60 years. It attracts five million listeners in the UK, and a million more around the world tune in online.

Its country village setting seems a world away from the UAE, but a new storyline has seen two of the characters, James Bellamy and girlfriend Leonie Snell, come to Dubai on holiday.

They blogged about their experiences and news of how they were getting on came in a scene featuring David's mother, Lilian Bellamy, and Leonie's father and stepmother, Robert and Lynda Snell.

Lilian asks the other two if they have been following the blog, and adds: "Isn't it fun? Sounds like they've been having the most marvellous time. The shopping sounds out of this world."

It is not clear whether this marks the start of a major storyline. James and Leonie have now returned home from Dubai, and listeners have been primed to expect them to make a big announcement arising from the trip at a party in a few days' time.

A BBC spokesman said the references to Dubai were intended to "provide a sense of the world outside of village life".

Fans living in the UAE welcomed the development, though some questioned the timing.

Londoner Sally Wingate, who starts every working day listening to a podcast of The Archers at 6am as she commutes from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, said: "Normally, The Archers get the details right, and I was slightly annoyed in the fact that they were holidaying during the hottest point of the year."

Anne Olympios, also from London, has been a fan of the show for 40 years, and moved to Dubai last year. She said: "I thought it was a very strange time of year to come, you wouldn't see the best of Dubai."

The Archers is not the only UK soap to feature Dubai. Ricky Butcher, a character in the TV series EastEnders, spent a short spell working as a car mechanic in the city earlier this year. He returned home to London, but has now flown back to Dubai for a six-month stay. Sid Owen, the actor who plays him, is taking a break from the show.