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
BBC School Radio Radio service. The BBC produced around 80 series per year for School Radio, which amounted to around 16 hours per week. From 1983, older programmes were available on cassette from the Centre of Educational Technology in Mold, Flintshire. Originally broadcast on the BBC Home Service, they transferred to BBC Radio 4 when that network replaced the Home Service in 1967. They were broadcast on all frequencies until the start of the 1973/74 school year when they were heard only on Radio 4's FM frequencies. Programming aired on weekdays from 10.00 (9.05 on Thursdays) to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 15.00.