Phil Archer when the show began airing nationally on 1 January 1951. During his time with "The Archers", Painting wrote a best-selling book entitled "Forever Ambridge" and wrote over a thousand scripts for the show between 1966 and 1982. Painting was later inducted into the Guinness World Records for being the longest-serving actor, without a break, in a single soap opera. In later years, Painting's appearances on the show became limited due to his ill health. On 29 October 2009, two days after he had gone to the recording studio, Painting died. BBC Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, said "Norman Painting was
The Archers Green" involving trombones, cymbals and the closing bars of the signature tune - known as the "doom music" to some fan groups. However, this tradition has been dropped more recently, such as the death of Nigel Pargetter when the normal closing music was played despite the gravity of the incident - to the irritation of some followers, who consider the jollity of the normal segment inappropriate in such circumstances. A brief extract from "The Dream of Gerontius" was played following the death of Phil Archer. When John Archer died no music was played. There was a nod to "The Archers"