Norman Painting Norman Painting Norman George Painting (23 April 1924 – 29 October 2009) was an English actor, broadcaster and writer. He played Phil Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers" from the pilot episodes aired on the BBC Midlands Home Service in summer 1950, after the series went national on the Light Programme on 1 January 1951, until his death in 2009, when he was the longest-serving member of the cast. His last episode, recorded two days before he died, was broadcast on 22 November 2009. The character lived on until Phil was "found dead" in his armchair
In the Red (radio series) played by Barry Foster, investigating a series of murders of London bank managers, a small political party contesting a by-election, and a plan to overthrow the Director-General of the BBC. Notable guest stars include Julian Rhind-Tutt and Peter Serafinowicz, as well as, Stephen Fry and John Bird, who would reprise their roles of Charles Prentis and Martin McCabe in the follow-up series "In the Chair" (BBC Radio 4, 1998), and "In the End" (BBC Radio 4, 1999), the TV adaptation In the Red (BBC Two, 1998), and their own spin-off series Absolute Power (BBC Radio 4, 2000-2006/BBC Two, 2003-2005). This