Judi Dench and cast urge BBC to keep Archers in Birmingham

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 16 Oct, 16:44 · Archive

The Archers cast and crew have written to the BBC director-general urging the corporation to keep recording the Radio 4 drama in Birmingham.

Dame Judi Dench and more than 100 current and former cast members of The Archers, along with scriptwriters and trade unions, have written to BBC director-general Matt Brittin urging the corporation to keep recording the show in Birmingham. The BBC scrapped plans to build a bespoke studio at its Tea Factory in Digbeth as part of a £500m cost-cutting drive. Production staff will still move to the Tea Factory, but the broadcaster is looking for an existing studio where the show could be recorded, potentially outside Birmingham for the first time since 1951.

The letter warns that relocating production would pose an 'existential threat' to the radio drama's future and end a 75-year relationship between programme and place. Signatories compare the move to hypothetically relocating Coronation Street from the north-west or EastEnders from the south-east. They argue that divorcing the production team from the cast would have 'a tangible impact on the quality of the programme' and damage Birmingham's creative industries.

The West Midlands is included in the BBC's search for alternative studios, but there is no guarantee The Archers will be recorded in the region.

How it is being reported

• Judi Dench joins calls by The Archers cast to keep show in BirminghamThe actor, who made a cameo in the Radio 4 drama in 1989, has signed a letter urging BBC not to move studio elsewhere The cast and crew behind The Archers, including the one-time guest star Judi Dench, have written to the BBC director general urging him to keep the recording of the Radio 4 drama in Birmingham. It emerged this week that the corporation was planning to stop recording the rural community soap opera in the city for the first time in the show’s 75-year history, after it scrapped plans for a radio drama studio. Continue reading...The Guardian · 16 Oct, 16:24
• Judi Dench and The Archers cast urge BBC boss to keep show in BirminghamIt comes after the BBC cancelled plans to build a new bespoke studio for the programme at its Tea Factory in Digbeth amid cost-cutting measures.Evening Standard · 16 Oct, 14:51

In this story: Judi Dench · BBC · The Archers · Adjoa Andoh · Matt Brittin · Birmingham · Equity UK · The Writers' Guild of Great Britain

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