Phil Archer Phil Archer Philip Walter Archer is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers", played by Norman Painting. He made his first appearance on 29 May 1950, the show's pilot episode. The character later became the longest serving male character in the series. His longevity gave him something of the status of a 'patriarch' in Ambridge. Norman Painting joined the cast as Phil Archer, the "handsome" son of Dan (Harry Oakes) and Doris Archer (Gwen Berryman), for the show's pilot episode broadcast on the BBC Midlands Home Service on 29 May 1950, he stayed on
David Troughton production of "Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee at London's Old Vic theatre which ran from 18 September to 20 December 2009. In 2011, he appeared as Stan Astill in the Sky1 comedy drama series "The Cafe". In November 2013, Troughton appeared in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot". In January 2014, he took on the role of Tony Archer, from Colin Skipp who, for 46 years, had played the part in the BBC radio series "The Archers". In November that year, fiction caught up with reality when his actor son, William