The Archers Ysanne Churchman, who played Grace, sent them a congratulatory card signed "Grace Archer". In 1996, William Smethurst recounted a conversation with Baseley in which he reveals his real motivation for killing off Grace Archer: Churchman was encouraging the other actors to join a trade union. The actor Norman Painting played Phil Archer continuously from the first trial series in 1950 until his death on 29 October 2009. His last "Archers" performance was recorded just two days before his death, and was broadcast on 22 November. He is cited in "Guinness World Records" as the longest-serving actor in a single soap
Simon Gipps-Kent the Seventh", again portraying young Prince Edward ("Bertie"), this time for ITV. For a time he also played Kenton Archer in the BBC radio serial "The Archers". Gipps-Kent starred in "A Traveller in Time" (1978), a BBC series based on the children's book by Alison Uttley about the Babington Plot, and in "V for Victory", an episode of the TV series "Enemy at the Door". Also in 1978, he was featured in episodes of "The Devil's Crown" as Arthur I, Duke of Brittany and played the part of "Willie" in Peter McDougall's supernatural drama "Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man",