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
The Archers young girl facing challenges (usually in Japanese traditional social ways) to realize her dream. Programmes have often been used as vehicles for discussion of matters of social concern, such as the foster-child system, and to celebrate the locales around Japan where the series are set. Tony Hancock starred in the Galton and Simpson spoof "The Bowmans" in an episode of BBC Television's "Hancock's Half Hour". Ned Sherrin produced a short 1973 film called "The Cobblers of Umbridge". The cast included Joan Sims, Lance Percival, Roy Kinnear, Derek Griffiths and John Fortune. "John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme" has parodied "The Archers" with