The BBC has scrapped plans to build a dedicated theatre for The Archers in Birmingham, ending the world's longest-running soap opera's 75-year recording presence in the city as part of broader cost-cutting measures.
The corporation had pledged to move recordings to the Tea Factory, a new BBC hub in Birmingham's Digbeth neighbourhood. That plan is now abandoned, the Guardian reports, as part of the BBC's £500 million cuts programme.
The Archers, a daily radio drama that has aired continuously since its launch in 1950, has been recorded in Birmingham throughout its entire history. The planned theatre was meant to provide a permanent home for the production within the BBC's expanding Birmingham facility.
No details were provided in the source material about where The Archers recordings will relocate or when the move from Birmingham will take place.