The Archers trial. Unlike television soaps, "The Archers" actors are not held on retainers and work on the series usually for a few days a month. By the nature of the storylines concentrating on particular groups of characters, in any one week out of a cast of about 60, the episodes include approximately 2030 speaking-characters. Most of the cast do acting work on other projects and can disappear for long periods if they are working on commitments such as films or television series. Tamsin Greig plays Debbie Aldridge and has appeared on many television series such as "Green Wing", "Love Soup", "Black
The Archers BBC World Service in Afghanistan began broadcasting "Naway Kor, Naway Jwand" ("New Home, New Life"), an everyday story of country folk incorporating pieces of useful information. Although the useful information was more likely to concern unexploded land mines and opium addiction than the latest modern farming techniques, the inspiration and model of "Naway Kor, Naway Jwand" was "The Archers", and the initial workshopping with Afghan writers included an "Archers" scriptwriter. A 1997 study found that listeners to the soap opera were significantly less likely to be injured by a mine than non-listeners. In Rwanda, the BBC World Service's Rwanda-Rundi service