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 Radio 4 Extra is broadcast over the internet on the BBC website, on services such as Radioplayer and TuneIn and for users of IPTV's. It is also available on digital radio (on which it is broadcast monophonically) and television services including digital terrestrial provider Freeview, cable television providers including Virgin Media and on satellite television providers Freesat and Sky who receive their signal from the Astra 2E satellite. The pan-European nature of this satellite means that the signal can be received across northern Europe. The controller of the station is Gwyneth Williams who is answerable to the Radio board in the BBC. BBC