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# Judi Dench Joins "The Archers" Cast in Fight to Keep BBC Show Recording in Birmingham
- URL: https://scrolletta.com/2026/10/16/archers-cast-letter-birmingham-studio/
- Published: 2026-10-16T07:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T07:47:58.000Z
- Description: The cast of Britain's long-running radio serial pushes back on a BBC cost cut that would take recording out of the city where the show has been made since 1950.
- Author: Scrolletta
- Tags: Jobs, The Archers, Judi Dench, Equity, BBC, Matt Brittin, #pool-2026-10-20, #ai-generated

More than 100 current and former cast members of "The Archers", Dame Judi Dench among them, write to BBC Director General Matt Brittin asking him to keep recording the radio drama in Birmingham, after the BBC reversed its commitment to build an audio drama studio in the Tea Factory, its new West Midlands base in Digbeth, Equity publishes. The letter, also signed by scriptwriters, freelance directors, the sound team and the unions Equity and WGGB, says the show will be left homeless when the lease on its current studio in the Mailbox ends, puts the cost of a new studio at £1.2 million to £1.5 million (roughly $1.6 million to $2 million) against £87 million (\~$116 million) for the BBC's new "EastEnders" set, and says "no industrial tool is off the table". The serial has been made in Birmingham since 1950, and the letter calls it a vital source of employment for Midlands-based actors, writers, directors and technicians.

**Primary**: [Equity, news release with the full text of the letter, 16 October 2026](https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2026/archers-cast-tell-bbc-dg-to-keep-iconic-show-in-birmingham?ref=scrolletta.com)