Former BBC employee Owen Bentley laments the final nail in the coffin for what once was a hub of quality programming

I can understand why the BBC is reluctant to build a new drama studio for The Archers when it moves to Digbeth, seeing that there is no other radio drama being made in Birmingham that would plump out its use (BBC to stop recording The Archers in Birmingham for first time in its 75-year history, 12 October).

Is this to be the final nail in the coffin of programme-making for the national networks in the Midlands? At its peak in the 90s the Birmingham Network Radio department was the major provider of programmes to Radio 2 and 5 outside London, and for Radio 4 and 3 it had award-winning specialisms in features, environment, farming, drama and music programming plus, of course, The Archers.

The 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.

Ben Norris says cost-cutting measure that means show will be recorded outside its home city risks ‘extraordinary burden’ for crew

A cast member of The Archers has said its actors have been angered by the BBC’s decision to axe the show’s new studio, in a move that could lead to it being recorded away from its home in Birmingham.

Ben Norris, who plays Ben Archer in the world’s longest-running soap opera, said the decision risked having a real impact on the quality of the show and placing an “extraordinary burden” on its crew.

Plans for a new theatre for world’s longest-running soap in Digbeth scrapped as part of cost-cutting measures

The BBC is set to stop recording The Archers in Birmingham for the first time in the show’s 75-year history, after scrapping plans for a radio drama theatre that was to be the new home of the world’s longest-running soap opera.

A pledge to move recordings to the so-called Tea Factory, the BBC’s new Birmingham hub in Digbeth, has become the latest victim of the corporation’s £500m cuts plan.