'A lot has happened in Brian's life in The Archers'
BBC"Yesterday they gave me a little party, they gave me a copy of the first episode I was in, six thousand and something. And tomorrow I shall be recording [episode] 20,599 - so a lot's happened."
In The Archers, the world's longest running radio soap opera which is recorded in Birmingham, Charles Collingwood is part of the furniture.
He has played the hard-headed Brian Aldridge for 50 years, and wants to carry on for at least a little longer.
"One of the secrets I honestly think, is it's 15 minutes every night and then that big omnibus on a Sunday," he told the BBC's Nick Owen.
"It's that time when people are getting supper or they're driving back from the station, they're having their first drink before putting the children to bed.
"You can commit to 15 minutes. Half an hour, forty minutes is an event."
Set in the fictional Midlands village of Ambridge, it has been recorded at various locations in Birmingham since 1950, including making its home at The Mailbox, in 2004.
Mr Collingwood's character, Brian, a wealthy young farmer, was introduced to the Radio 4 drama in 1975.
'Turned him into a womaniser'
A year later, he married Jennifer Archer, and they were together until her death in January 2023.
"He was very happily married and wealthy and brought up Jennifer's children, and I think they were in danger of being written out of the programme, because lovely as that is in real life, there's not much drama in that," said Mr Collingwood.
"And then they overnight turned him into a womaniser and it rather changed my life."
Back in real life, Aldridge recalls how a new teacher of his daughter, Jane, had a passionate reaction about the prospect of her in the classroom.
"We met the staff and they met us and I think I asked a question," he remembered.
"It came back to me later that her new form teacher stormed into the staff room saying, 'I'm not teaching that girl, her father's Brian Aldridge!'.
"Only about a month ago, my grandson who's nine - Jane's son - came back from school saying: 'My teacher said, is it true that your grandpa is Brian in The Archers?'
"So there we are, that's an illustration of how long I've been playing this part," he laughed.
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