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
The Archers run by members of the cast. The club had five thousand members and an online shop where Archers memorabilia was sold under licence. It closed as a club on 31 December 2013 but still has a Facebook page and Twitter feed. Archers Anarchists was formed some time later, objecting to the "castist" assumptions propagated by the BBC, and claiming that the characters are real. The usenet newsgroup uk.media.radio.archers (referred to as UMRA by its users, who call themselves umrats) has been running since 1995. Its users include experts on many subjects covered by the programme, such as campanology, many aspects