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
Andy Archer (radio presenter) subsequently worked for several commercial stations, including DevonAir, Centre Radio, County Sound and Ireland's Radio Nova and Radio ERI. At Nova, he was the programme director. In the 1980s he also returned to working for Radio Caroline and later Radio Orwell for periods, before in 1990 becoming programme controller at Invicta Supergold. In 1996, Archer made the move to working for the BBC, presenting programmes for BBC Radio Suffolk. The following year he moved to its sister station BBC Radio Norfolk, where he presented shows such as "The Morning Mix" and later, from 2002, "Drive Live". In 2003 he returned