High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC`s main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting". With over 16,550 episodes, it is both the world`s longest running radio soap and, since the axing of the American soap opera Guiding Light in September 2009, the world`s longest running soap opera in any format.