Phil Archer when the show began airing nationally on 1 January 1951. During his time with "The Archers", Painting wrote a best-selling book entitled "Forever Ambridge" and wrote over a thousand scripts for the show between 1966 and 1982. Painting was later inducted into the Guinness World Records for being the longest-serving actor, without a break, in a single soap opera. In later years, Painting's appearances on the show became limited due to his ill health. On 29 October 2009, two days after he had gone to the recording studio, Painting died. BBC Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, said "Norman Painting was
BBC Radio 4 in eastern and south eastern counties of Ireland, the north of France and Northern Europe. It is also available through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and on the Internet. Its sister station, BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly "BBC Radio 7"), complements the main channel by broadcasting repeats from the Radio 4 archive, extended versions of Radio 4 programmes and supplements to series such as "The Archers" and "Desert Island Discs". It is notable for its news bulletins and programmes such as "Today" and "The World at One", heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal "pips" or the chimes of Big