Brian Aldridge Interviewed Under Caution by the Environment Agency

Wednesday 17th January’s episode of the popular Radio 4 drama ‘The Archers’ featured the Environment Agency as they interviewed the character Brian Aldridge over a contaminated piece of land he had recently purchased.

In the episode, Brian and his wife Jennifer have been sold a piece of land at a cheap price by their friend Justin Elliot which has raised suspicion as the land is contaminated due to a poisonous leakage killing the fish in the river. This led to Brian attending an Environment Agency interview under caution. Jennifer confronts Justin about this who initially denies that he knew that the land was contaminated.

Eventually Justin retorts with “Perhaps it would have been a good idea to do more research before you stumped up your cash” before he ends the episode by saying “buyer beware”.

Although ‘The Archers’ is fiction, being interviewed under caution is very much a reality as our Head of Regulatory Law, Andrew Brammer emphasises:

“This recent storyline in ‘The Archers’ about contamination of the fictitious River Am, illustrates the investigative functions of the Environment Agency in relation to allegations of environmental offending. The interview under caution that Brian attended is a real mechanism used by agencies like the Environment Agency to gather evidence in criminal investigations. It is governed by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. At Cartwright King we are experts in advising businesses and business people on interviews under caution.”

If you have been invited to an interview under caution by the Environment Agency or any other regulatory body, contact our Regulatory department either by telephone, or emailing us using the contact from.