IT'S the village where the local farming big-shot had an extra-marital affair with the doctor's wife before she ran off to Germany with their love-child vowing never to return - but will she?

Meanwhile the village snob's artistic pretensions are wreaking havoc on the Christmas play and controversy still rages about hunting with hounds.

It's just another day in the life of The Archers - the Radio Four soap opera that has been running for 53 years and attracts five million listeners.

And, as one of the 10-strong writing team behind the show, it's Carole Solazzo's job to know the details of the soap inside out and produce the authentic-sounding scripts that keep Ambridge and its residents alive for the listeners.

Carole, 46, from Meadow Way, Bacup, explained: "We try to end each episode with a little hook - like will the Christmas pantomime continue and is Lynda Snell going to have another row?

"That's part of what makes The Archers so successful - we have lots of little, humorous storylines that strike a chord with people."

Carole has also been involved in some of the show's more major plotlines - including one that saw Ambridge's answer to J.R. Ewing - farmer Brian Aldridge - almost killed in a car crash with his erstwhile lover Siobhan Hathaway - whom his long-suffering wife Jennifer still doesn't realise was present at the scene.

However, Carole is sworn to secrecy as to what will happen next.

"Whereas other soaps release their storylines beforehand, what happens next on The Archers is always a big secret. It's a big thing with us to keep the listener guessing," she said.

Incredibly mother-of-two Carole had never written professionally at all prior to The Archers.

She said: "I'd wanted to be a writer for a long time but everybody said I should get a proper job and support my family, so I worked as an interpreter at Preston Crown Court.

"Then, four years ago my husband suggested I pack in the job and write for 12 months and see if I get anywhere.

"I found a playwriting course run by the English Touring Theatre Company in Crewe on Tuesday evenings, so I signed up. It was really good and the tutor, Mark Bickerton, who writes for Coronation Street, had heard The Archers was looking for new writers.

"I'd been listening to The Archers since the '70s and I decided I had nothing to lose. I rang them up and they sent me a trial script pack."

It took 15 months of trial scripts and synopses, but eventually Carole was offered a job on The Archers team - and she joined it just in time to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

She said: "The year 2000 was a good time to join, because the following year they threw a big anniversary party with lots of celebrity listeners.

"Prince Charles was there and Stephen Fry and Cilla Black. We all drank champagne and chatted about the show."

Now well-established in her writing career, Carole also does scripts for BBC TV's Doctors and helps run a professional theatre company called Physico, based in Bacup.

But there's no doubt it's the folk from Ambridge who hold a special place in her heart.

"The Archers is just such an institution," she said. "It's part of British life. People might not listen to it, but they know of it. It's in everybody's consciousness."