Landing the part of the new vicar in the long-running radio soap The Archers was a dream come true for lifelong fan John Telfer, he tells Steve Pratt.

WHEN John Telfer heard The Archers were looking for a new vicar, he lost no time in contacting the producers. He is, after all, one of the series' biggest fans. "I've been listening to it for donkeys' years. I think it's the best soap in the world," says the Middlesbrough-born actor.

He lost out on the chance to join the cast of the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap three years ago when the new doctor was cast. In the event, he's glad he didn't get the job as the medic has now left the village.

Instead Telfer, who lives in Bristol, has become the new vicar of St Stephen's Church in Ambridge. Alan Franks is a widower with a 14-year-old daughter called Amy, and was first heard on air in July, presenting the prize to the winners of the wife-carrying contest.

"I knew they were looking for a new vicar because a friend of mine in Bristol is one of their occasional producers. I was wittering on, as I do, one day that work seemed a bit thin on the ground and he told me about The Archers. So I rang them up," he recalls.

As a result, he won the part of the vicar who's set to shake up the village congregation with his views. "They're making this vicar a little more outspoken and socially aware, more confrontational," explains Telfer. "Ambridge is his first parish. He was an accountant and lay preacher before, so he's much more of the world. He's a good listener and not afraid to gently put people's backs up."

Telfer is being introduced slowly in the farming soap. A simple "Hello" at Ambridge fair was the first listeners heard of him. In the story, he was talking to a bunch of characters. In reality, he recorded his lines on his own in the studio.

Through talking to producers, Telfer has an idea of the vicar's views on the topical issues and the direction in which he might go. He thinks, for instance, that Alan Franks would probably support the character who's recently come out as gay.

'I do have some vague ideas and can deduce other things, although I don't know what's going to happen," he says, emphasising that these are his musings, not actual storylines.

"He's a widower, so at some point there will be a relationship with some unattached woman in the village. I thought there could be some interesting things, such as a cross-cultural relationship. One that would really set the cat among the pigeons would be if the vicar got together with Siobhan. "Brian Aldridge would be spitting blood and Jennifer would not be able to go to church."

Telfer's comments betray a follower's intimate knowledge of The Archers, gleaned from years of listening regularly.

The role takes him into the studio at BBC Birmingham six days every month to record episodes, and he's yet to meet all the members of the cast. Some he'd encountered in previous acting work. He knew Tim Bentinck and recalls touring with Felicity Finch "in nineteen-hundred-and-frozen-to-death". One of the first things Graham Seed did was to remind him that they worked together on two episodes of Crossroads some years ago.

"There are quite a lot of us in the acting business, but you tend to work with the same people," says Telfer. "It's a joy to do because radio generally is a stress-free zone because you don't have to learn the lines, so that element is taken out. It's always much more relaxing for an actor."

The producers gave him the choice of having Alan Franks come from Yorkshire or Derbyshire. Telfer opted for the former as he's a Yorkshireman himself - Middlesbrough was in that county when he was born.

Winning the regular role in The Archers came at the end of a year spent mostly on stage. The year before, he'd made the second series of ITV's Without Motive with Ross Kemp, playing a "nasty, mean chief detective inspector who was a thorn in his side".

Plans for a third series were shelved, and Telfer ended up doing several premieres in Bristol, where he trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School after gaining a degree in music and theatre at York University. The roles couldn't have been more different - an Irish Catholic priest who was a paedophile, and as "a bloke that everyone thought was a woman - there are a few pictures of me looking like Sigourney Weaver".

Telfer's first role on stage was playing Santa Claus in a production at Green Lane Nursery in his home town. He continued performing with The Avenue Methodist Church Drama Group and was encouraged to pursue acting by English teacher John Foggin at Middlesbrough Boys' School.

He stayed in Bristol after completing his training, partly because it was cheaper and enabled a better style of life, and partly because of the proximity to London.

Music is his other interest. He's composed orchestral and choral pieces for stage productions. He's also written musicals with BBC radio producer Alec Reid, including one on which they've been working for the past three or four years.

"It's very difficult getting musicals put on because it's an expensive business," he says. "If you're trying to do something new, people need to be convinced. One producer said if we could raise half a million pounds, he'd put it on. We're now looking at staging it in a small, try-out theatre in London."

Telfer is also a member - as lead singer and on keyboards - of a Bristol-based contemporary band, A Few Good Men. They do a mix of small local gigs and bigger national ones. The band has supported the likes of Wishbone Ash, Argent and Carl Palmer in concert.

His sons, aged 13 and nine - he also has a grown-up daughter - are continuing the musical theme. The eldest is deputy head chorister at Bristol Cathedral, and the youngest is hoping to join the choir there.

Telfer himself is still coming to terms with winning his dream role. "I was walking around with an inane grin on my face the week after I found out I had got the part. And the cast were so welcoming. It's like being part of a family," he says.

* The Archers: BBC Radio 4, 7pm, Sunday-Friday, with the omnibus on Sunday morning.