In our forthcoming, and fourth Academic Archers book, Flapjacks and Feudalism: Class Politics in The Archers, our co-founder, Dr Nicola Headlam, has a chapter about the current modern slavery storyline in The Archers. Here, Nicola writes on the subject as a precursor to her chapter, ‘Feeding the Horses’: Modern Slavery, the dark side of construction hidden in plain sight in Ambridge.
‘Feeding the Horses’: modern slavery in The Archers
Gavin (agitated): That’s not how some people will see it, Dad…They’ll say they are slaves.
Philip (growls): Don’t use that word.
(The Archers, broadcast 22nd May 2020)
The reveal, from May of this year, that Philip and Gavin were colluding in using forced labour followed the accidental explosion in the kitchen at Grey Gables. Blake, the (then-nameless) worker on the spot had ignited a gas grill while using flammable chemicals as he was working on an empty stomach. ‘The Horses’ it emerged, are three vulnerable previously street homeless young men who the Mosses use as an unfree source of labour. They are British, with English as their first language, though talk with hesitancy and a lack of fluidity. They are highly vulnerable and have been ‘rescued’ from the ever-present dangers of rough sleeping. They are housed and fed by the Mosses (in this instance, not enough) and have been manipulated by them into believing that they should be grateful. Since the end of formal lockdown measures where Gavin spent months with the young men it appears that the psychological mechanisms whereby he viewed them as non-human have slipped, not so for Philip who discussed the sale of a faulty horse with chilling matey-ness to an unknown connection. This served to broaden out the issue. It is not that the mosses are psychopaths, acting alone. Such practices are rife, and normal for others too.
As I googled ‘what are the signs of modern slavery?’ the algorithm in my computer offered me the earlier searches ‘what are the signs of coercive control’ and ‘what are the signs of sepsis.’ The prompts made me smile, the big meaty public information storylines to have hit Ambridge in the past few years. All set up within long standing characters, vast amounts of public information imparted and the inevitable tussle between credulity as regards characterisation or in service of the drama. As always, when deploying ‘issues’ the scriptwriters engage with the relevant pressure groups, victim’s advocacy and NGOs in order to anchor the storyline. The Gangmasters Labour Authority this week GLAA were consulted by writers in developing credible modern slaves and they tweeted the link this week to a chilling public information film about recruiting ‘unfree’ workers, Trading the Horses. In it a female voice describes how easy it is to attract the vulnerable from drug rehab, homeless shelters and prisons. and in their helpful information we can see how far the young men being enslaved by Moss construction have been street homeless, that English is their first language but that they may have learning difficulties.
It is made clear to us that Philip styles himself as their saviour rather than their exploiter, and how terrified Blake was during his stay in hospital showed the emotional and psychological grip exerted by Philip and Gavin over their charges. The Archers has shown some bravery in highlighting this issue with such a long build up (extended by the COVID-19 lockdown) and Philip growing in the village as a ‘decent bloke’ despite his sideline as a gangmaster and exploiter of modern slaves. It was telling that in exploring the truth underpinning the storyline I have learnt some truly horrible things about the dark side and how routine the exploitation of workers can be. As the quotation from the chair of the Chartered Institute of Builders, the contemporary incarnation of the very guilds and trades organisations which would have secured decent pay and conditions within early mercantilist capitalism there are the insidious tentacles of slavery within business models which squeeze margins at every point in the supply chain. In exploring how and why ‘the horses’ have ended up in Ambridge I followed the trail into the campaigning activities of various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and pressure groups who have been highly effective in bringing these elements of the black and grey economy to light. the prevalence of modern slavery speaks of a wider form of neoliberal necropolitics – in which logics of accumulation and hierarchies are played out on the bodies of workers. In this form of political economy social and emotional vulnerability and economic precarity combine together, trapping those unable to escape exploitation. Victims may be of either gender, be British or from elsewhere and fall through all the cracks and safeguards upon which we all rely. I salute the scriptwriters for their careful examination of this horrible corner of the economy, the backs of those upon whom prosperity is built.
