Does anyone else sense a momentous addition to the BBC's welcome move North? One which would create a second front for Ambridge in Yorkshire?

How so?

Thus: for the first time since George Barford's northern vowels last rang out on Radio 4 in 2005 (you remember, he died peacefully after an arson attack), the soap is referring to Leeds on a regular basis. The city is the home of cradlesnatcher-as-was – but is she still? – Sharon Richards, the long-ago girlfriend of Tony and Pat's doomed son John.

It turns out that her own young son is almost certainly the child of her brief relationship with John, who overturned his Dad's vintage Fergie tractor and went the way of Nigel Pargetter (sliding off a roof), Grace Archer (famed stable fire on the first night of ITV) and Lone Ranger, stray cat taken in by silent character Freda Fry (thought to have been bitten by an escaped poisonous snake). This has understandably got Tony and especially Pat in an absolute ferment which is currently dominating the storyline.

Surely they will come to Leeds, if only because the scriptwriters clearly enjoy torturing Helen, the late John's sister, who is desperate for them to forget the whole thing. Beyond that motive, there is also the second-front prospect. It could be the start of a whole franchise operation with Ambridglets hosting episodes all over the UK's countryside (which, contrary to quite a lot of mistaken opinion, includes vast tracts of the north).

Emmerdale; the village where it's always Christmas. Photograph: Rex Features/ITV

I have a feeling that Sharon and the Intriguing Son live in Allerton Bywater, our Millennium Village in Leeds, which would provide an interesting contrast to the older-fashioned nature of Ambridge and its neighbour Penny Hassett. There are also some grounds for thinking that the latest newlyweds in the story – which is the longest-running soap opera in the world – might be attracted by Cheshire. My cousin Bridget is a vet near Macclesfield and I think that she would approve (and she could advise on making the Archers vet Alistair Lloyd a bit more appealing). Bradford Girls Grammar is meanwhile looking for more pupils, so that solves the problem of where Elizabeth Pargetter might send Lily.

This isn't an attack on Birmingham, which comes very close indeed to the northern cities in its merits as a really excellent place. Just to say that the Archers is big enough now for all of us to have a slice. And think of the potential cross-fertilisation in Soaplandia. What joy there would be if Sharon and child were to move to Emmerdale

Have you any helpful suggestions? Let us know (and why not contact the Listeners' Fantasies section of The Archers website while you are about it?)