From wild dramas and rural sitcoms to nature documentaries, the BBC has broadcast from and about the countryside since the corporation’s birth 100 years ago. Dave Golder rummages in the archive to unearth old favourites and lost treasures, including many you can watch online now

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Don’t miss

Watch Uncover Britain’s Hidden Landscapes – a curated collection of recent countryside programmes on iPlayer.

You wouldn’t expect a cow impression to have much gravitas; but then you wouldn’t expect the great Richard Burton to do the mooing. The renowned thesp lends his resonant Welsh tones to the 1960 BBC documentary, Borrowed Pasture, about two Polish ex-soldiers struggling to make a living from a derelict farm in Carmarthenshire. It’s an unromanticised, mud-caked examination of their lives, but Burton’s lyrical narration gives Dylan Thomas a run for his money. Yes, even with the mooing.

It’s just one of the charming forgotten treasures from the BBC’s broad and eclectic countryside coverage over the past 100 years. Many of these shows are known to almost every household in the land. Among such stone-cold classics are, of course, magazine series such as Countryfile, which was first broadcast in 1988, and Springwatch, which made its debut in 2005. Both have enjoyed wild success, as have travelogues such as Coast, a seashore odyssey that first aired in 2005, and lifestyle shows such as Escape to the Country (2002), where willing participants attempt to uproot from urban to rural. Beyond these stalwarts, there are shows about agriculture, birdwatching, fishing, flowers, canal voyages, wild swimming and dodging-the-rain-at-the-seaside.

Comedies and dramas also celebrate the UK landscape – who would deny that the Yorkshire Dales were as much a part of the charm of Last of the Summer Wine (1973) as Compo, Foggy and Clegg? And detective dramas seem especially thrilling when tackling crime in rustic splendour, from Hamish Macbeth (1995) in the Highlands to Bergerac (1981) moonlighting for the Jersey tourist board. The dashing 18th-century drama of Poldark is ramped up by spectacular shots of smouldering characters in period attire on windswept Cornish coasts, while the grand houses and romantic rural settings of Pride and Prejudice (1995), created a worldwide hit, as millions tuned in to watch Mr Darcy and Elizabeth stumble towards love.

The BBC even boasts the only soap opera with an agricultural advisor in The Archers (1950). It’s interesting to listen to Radio 4’s Farming Today (1960) daily alongside The Archers, to hear the issues being raised in the factual show – bluetongue, ash dieback, rewilding – dramatised in the other a few weeks (or days) later. Even in our diverse, modern society, these shows feel part of the national furniture, of what it means to be British.

There have been controversies. These days there is internet outrage whenever a Springwatch presenter sniggers over the word ‘shag’, but these upsets blow over quickly. One long-running dispute, however, was finally settled this year. In a celebrated 1924 broadcast, cellist Beatrice Harrison apparently recorded a duet of ‘Londonderry Air’ with a nightingale in her garden. Earlier this year, the BBC finally revealed the nightingale was a fake – its song created by a bird impressionist.

CLASSIC CATCH-UP

The marvellous thing is that you can now watch or listen to many familiar classics and hidden gems alike. The BBC’s apps, Sounds (for audio) and iPlayer (for TV) allow you to enjoy many shows online or on a smart TV.

Linking both Sounds and iPlayer is the BBC Programme Index, a vast database of almost every BBC radio and TV programme ever broadcast (genome.ch.bbc.co.uk).

The index grew out of the Genome Project, launched in 2014 after several years’ work, which included scanning copies of Radio Times from its beginning in 1923 up to 2010, explains content producer Andrew Martin. “There are some omissions,” Andrew confesses; programmes before the start of Radio Times’ publication in late 1923, and the 11 weeks over its lifetime when the magazine was not printed. He hopes to add those details in the near future. Not all the listed programmes are available to watch – but tens of thousands are.

A word of caution: trawling through the Programme Index pages can become addictive. It’s like having a window on the past – there is some fascinating stuff to unearth, as you trace the trends from the patrician tone of the early days to today’s environmental awareness.

WATCH NOW

Many hidden gems are available to see right now. A wonderful time-capsule of a show is A Passion For Churches (1974), in which poet laureate Sir John Betjeman paddles the Norfolk Broads to extoll the virtues of East Anglian ecclesiastical architecture. An urban barge trip with the urbane lan Nairn features in Nairn Across Britain: Trans-Pennine Canal (1972), while a more genial flat-capped Robbie Cumming brings long-boating up to date in the delightful Canal Boat Diaries (2019).

Over on BBC Sounds you can find episodes of Radio 4’s fascinating and long-running birdsong series Tweet of the Day (2013), which, at just a few minutes each, are eminently dip-in-and-out-able. Check out the one with author Michael Morpurgo bemoaning the “ugly cackle” of the magpie for some shameless anthropomorphism. There is also a thoroughly entertaining episode of Radio 4’s etymology series Word of Mouth with poet Michael Rosen and his panel discussing evocative words used to describe the British landscape, such as ‘dingle’. Did you know there are at least 30 different terms for mud?

A gem you must not miss is just the last third of an episode of a 1975 arts and entertainment magazine show called Going Places, in which Barry Norman delivers a wonderfully witty and colourful commentary on village cricket. It’s almost achingly British. And it’s always a gentle treat to take a vicarious walk with Clare Balding and guests on Radio 4’s Ramblings.

David Attenborough’s epic series are often global in scope but also contain memorable sequences closer to home, such as the awesome stop-motion footage of an English forest becoming a carpet of bluebells in episode four of The Private Life of Plants (1995), and the glorious scenes of Attenborough drifting on a chalk stream, examining water crowfoot, in episode two of The Green Planet (2022). Look out for the great man in Wild Isles next year.

For a scarier take on rural Britain, Torchwood’s ‘Countrycide’ could put you off rambling forever. Almost as scary are teens Kurtain and Kerry in the BBC Three sitcom This Country, a show that takes a remarkably unidealised but well-observed look at the life for youngsters in rural Britain. It’s what The Detectorists’ kids are up to while Mackenzie Crook and Toby Young are out treasure hunting.

A cop show you may have missed is Hinterland (2017), a slice of Scandinoir transferred to a South Wales countryside that becomes a brooding character in the show itself. Apparently they see so many red kites while filming, they call them Aberystwyth pigeons. Similarly, in detective series Shetland (2013), the remote, wild landscape sets the dramatic tone. The first series is worth revisiting for its brilliant footage of Lerwick’s Up Helly Aa fire festival (not currently on iPlayer, but keep an eye out).

For those seeking insights into artistic minds, Daphne Du Maurier (1971) presents the author describing how Cornwall has shaped her writing, while an episode of Monitor (1960) has sculptor Henry Moore showing off his large Hertfordshire garden, a testing ground for his huge artworks.

If you want a “let’s poke round a stately home” show with a difference, check out The Curious House Guest (2005) episode on Bellamont – there’s a surprise in store. And if you fancy a backyard safari, there’s the wonderful Teeny Tiny Creatures (2021) about the bugs, birds and furry critters you will find in your garden.

It has been a great first century. Perhaps there won’t be a second. Some see the licence fee as an anachronism in today’s landscape of multi-platform broadcasting, so there are questions about the Corporation’s future. But whatever happens to Auntie Beeb, a vast legacy of outstanding rural programming will remain.

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Dave Golder is an entertainment journalist who fends off the occupational hazard of square eyes by taking long walks through rural Hampshire with his three-legged lurcher, Roo.

BBC TIMELINE

Key moments in the life of Auntie

18 OCTOBER 1922
The British Broadcasting Company is founded.

14 NOVEMBER 1922
Daily radio broadcasting begins.

SEPTEMBER 1923
First edition of The Radio Times.

JANUARY 1927
The BBC becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation.

NOVEMBER 1936
The BBC Television Service opens.

MAY 1950
First episode of The Archers.

1954
David Attenborough debut as a presenter in Zoo Quest.

1957
BBC Natural History Unit founded to produce wildlife programmes.

SEPTEMBER 1960
Farming Today launches on the BBC Third Programme, later Radio 4.

APRIL 1964
BBC One replaces BBC Television.

JULY 1967
BBC Two becomes Europe’s first full-colour TV service.

1967
The World About Us created by David Attenborough.

1984
First series of Natural World.

JULY 1988
First episode of Countryfile.

DECEMBER 1997
bbc.co.uk is launched.

MAY 2005
Springwatch debuts.

JULY 2007
BBC iPlayer launched.

MORE MUST-SEES

From long-running classics to forgotten gems, the BBC is rich in rural shows. Here are some more of our favourites from over the years

Those marked iPlayer are available to view this month, and in many cases for longer

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (1978–90)
Based on James Herriot’s memoir, a novice vet adjusts to life in 1930s Yorkshire Dales.

ANIMAL MAGIC (1962–83)
Presented by Johnny Morris, this children’s show featured voiceovers of animals at Bristol Zoo.

DETECTORISTS (2014–)
A low-key comedy about the mixed fortunes of a pair of metal detectorists.
iPlayer

FATHER BROWN (2013–)
Based on GK Chesteron’s novels, a crime-solving Catholic priest roams the Cotswolds.
iPlayer

FARMING TODAY (2010)
Radio 4’s daily broadcast on food and farming.

GREAT BRITISH RAILWAY JOURNEYS (2010–)
Michael Portillo hops on hundreds of trains to capture the joy and history of rail.
iPlayer

LET’S GO FOR A WALK (2010)
CBeebies’ Ranger Hamza and the young Ramblers explore their environment.
iPlayer

LIVING BRITAIN (1999)
Narrated by Samuel West, this six-part nature documentary examines UK wildlife over a year.

MISS MARPLE (1984–1992)
In these Agatha Christie tales, rural life is ripe with murder but Miss Marple is always on the case.

MONARCH OF THE GLEN (2000–2005)
London restaurant owner Archie unexpectedly inherits a Highland estate in this TV drama.

MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING (2018–)
Comedians Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse go on angling adventures around the UK, featuring lovely reflections on life.
iPlayer

NATURAL WORLD (1993–)
BBC Two’s flagship natural-history series. Includes H Is for Hawk: A New Chapter with Helen Macdonald (2017).

NATURE
BBC Radio 4’s series studies wildlife and environment around the world. Available on BBC Sounds.

ONE MAN AND HIS DOG (1976–)
The annual competition to find the country’s best sheepdog.
iPlayer

OPEN COUNTRY (2009–)
This countryside show has more than 400 episodes on BBC Sounds.

REALLY WILD SHOW (1986–2006)
The much-loved children’s wildlife show that launched Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan.

CORNWALL WITH SIMON REEVE (2020)
An insightful look at the fortunes of the honeypot county as it emerges from lockdown.
iPlayer

TALES FROM THE GREEN VALLEY (2005–13)
Historians recreate farm life in the 1620s in this 12-part TV documentary. Its success saw it followed by Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.

TO THE MANOR BORN (1979–1981)
Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles star in this class sitcom set on a vast country estate.

WILD TRACK (1978–85)
The jaunty wildlife TV series, presented by Su Ingle, Michael Jordan and Tony Soper.

WEATHER MAN WALKING (2011–)
Now on its 12th series, weatherman Derek Brockway goes a-walking in Wales.
iPlayer

WORZEL GUMMIDGE (2019)
Mackenzie Crook’s take on the magic scarecrow is a much-loved Christmas cracker.
iPlayer

Photos: BBC, Getty, Alamy, BBC Archives