The Mailbox in Birmingham, a red brick building with a red The Mailbox sign on its roof, above canalside restaurants. Photo: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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The Archers Could Be Recorded Outside Birmingham for the First Time Since 1951. Its Cast Says the Savings Won’t Last Five Years

Owen Castellano · October 22, 2026 · 6 min read

The BBC has dropped plans for a purpose-built studio for The Archers at its new Birmingham home, and the world's longest-running radio soap could be recorded outside the city for the first time since 1951. More than 100 past and present cast members, writers and editors, Equity and the Writers' Guild say the move puts the show at risk. One of its actors says the travel bill would wipe out the saving within about five years.

It's a row about a building, but for the actors it's really about a way of working. The Archers isn't recorded the way most audio drama is. Ben Norris, who plays Ben Archer, says the show "is recorded in a very specific way that is unlike almost all other audio drama", and that there are "very few other studios that have those facilities, and none that are up to the same specifications as our current setup".

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