Special episode planned in The Archers tour

The Archers will mark its 75th anniversary with a national stage tour, it has been announced.

Hosted by comedian and Archers devotee Angela Barnes, each performance will feature a cast of four actors along with the BBC Radio 4 drama's live sound-effects specialist, Vanessa Nuttall.

The tour will run from June to November and will celebrate the 75 years with a live evening of "storytelling, nostalgia and behind-the-scenes insight into how the show is made", a spokesperson said.

The series, which is recorded in Birmingham, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera.

The tour will feature eight characters who will perform in two rotating casts of four - with Timothy Bentinck (David Archer), Charlotte Martin (Susan Carter), Ben Norris (Ben Archer) and Annabelle Dowler (Kirsty Miller) all appearing together.

The second cast is made up of Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge), Ryan Kelly (Jazzer McCreary), Susie Riddell (Tracy Horrobin) and Sunny Ormonde (Lilian Bellamy).

The Archers: Live at 75 will include a specially written episode performed live on stage, along with archive material from the BBC vaults, an audience Q&A and a pub quiz inspired by the village pub, The Bull.

Broadcast for the first time on 1 January 1951, The Archers was originally conceived to educate both farmers and the public on modern agricultural methods, and has evolved over the years to reflect the changes in rural life in England.

The drama has tackled topical issues such as climate change, the economic challenges faced by farmers, domestic abuse, alcoholism and modern slavery, all while continuing to entertain listeners.

Today, it remains one of the BBC's most popular programmes and regularly tops the list of most popular on-demand programmes for listeners under 35 on BBC Sounds.

With more than 20,000 episodes broadcast, the show reaches millions of fans who tune in to the dramas of the residents of the fictional village of Ambridge every week.

The live show will be set at a reimagining of the Ambridge Flower & Produce Show, and begins in Manchester on 7 June, before visiting towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales.

Stops on the tour include Wolverhampton's University of Wolverhampton at The Civic Hall, Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, the Symphony Hall in Birmingham and the Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Bentinck, who has played the role of David Archer since 1982, said: "I'm so excited to be part of the upcoming The Archers national tour of the UK.

"We'll be on stage but the show will be very interactive and Archers listeners and fans will be just as much a part of it as us.

"So come and join us at the Flower and Produce Show and, as an added treat, get to see how the clever sound effects are achieved.

"Hint, it's all done with yoghurt and ironing boards."