The Archers editor Vanessa Whitburn to step down

THE head of long-running Radio 4 series The Archers is stepping down after 22 years.

Vanessa Whitburn is the longest-serving editor in the show’s history. She will move on at the end of May.

Under her stewardship, there have been a number of controversial storylines, including Ruth Archer’s affair with herdsman Sam Batton and Nigel Pargetter plummeting to his death from a roof in the 60th anniversary edition of the rural radio soap.