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
Angus Imrie Mortimer's "A Voyage Round My Father". In 2014, Imrie joined the cast of the long-running BBC Radio 4 series "The Archers", based on a rural farming community in the mythical village of Ambridge, to take the role of Josh Archer previously played by child actor Cian Cheesbrough, the teenage son of David and Ruth and one of the main members of the Archer family. In the same year, he played the part of cabin boy Pip in "The White Whale" at Leeds Dock, in which he sang "Amazing Grace" from the top of the set after having fallen into the