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
The Archers its recurring "The Archers Accidentally" sketches; the sketches claim to portray "The Archers" the way it sounds to people who only listen to the show inadvertently. The radio series of "Dead Ringers" has frequently parodied characters from "The Archers", including a special edition. The subtitle was parodied by Bill Tidy in his long-running cartoon of "The Cloggies", "an Everyday Saga in the Life of Clog Dancing Folk", which ran in the satirical magazine "Private Eye", and later in "The Listener". In addition to books and audiobooks, purported maps of Ambridge and Borsetshire have been published. An episode of "Arena", broadcast