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
Who Shot Phil? Who Shot Phil? "Who Shot Phil?" is a storyline of the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" which began on 1 March 2001 and climaxed on 5 April 2001. The storyline centres around one of "EastEnders"' longest running characters, Phil Mitchell (played by Steve McFadden). The build up to the storyline occurs throughout 2000-2001. The character becomes darker and a more menacing side to his personality begins to surface. Phil's behaviour thus earns him a number of sworn enemies in Albert Square. These include his former girlfriend Lisa Shaw, Lisa's new boyfriend Mark Fowler, his former step-son Ian Beale, former business partner