Judi Dench joins calls to keep The Archers recording in Birmingham

Actor Judi Dench has joined the cast and crew of The Archers to urge the BBC director general to keep recording the Radio 4 drama in Birmingham, according to the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Somerset County Gazette. Staff were informed that the BBC plans to stop recording the soap opera in the city for the first time in its 75-year history. [1][2][3][4]

The letter was organized after the corporation abandoned plans to construct a radio drama studio in the city, the Guardian reported. As FTMQ News reported earlier, the BBC scrapped the new studio project as part of cost-cutting measures, drawing anger from cast members including actor Ben Norris, who warned the decision would create a heavy burden for the crew. [1][9]

Dench made a guest cameo in the program in 1989, according to the Guardian. Over a career spanning seven decades, the English and Irish actress has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and seven Olivier Awards. [1][5][8]

The Archers has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1951 and is the longest-running drama in the world by both duration and number of episodes, having aired more than 20,000 episodes. [6]