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 young girl facing challenges (usually in Japanese traditional social ways) to realize her dream. Programmes have often been used as vehicles for discussion of matters of social concern, such as the foster-child system, and to celebrate the locales around Japan where the series are set. Tony Hancock starred in the Galton and Simpson spoof "The Bowmans" in an episode of BBC Television's "Hancock's Half Hour". Ned Sherrin produced a short 1973 film called "The Cobblers of Umbridge". The cast included Joan Sims, Lance Percival, Roy Kinnear, Derek Griffiths and John Fortune. "John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme" has parodied "The Archers" with