Martin Barras, famous for his panto performances in York, has been appearing in the BBC Radio 4 soap, The Archers.
He told YorkMix Radio, he is playing Mick, a ‘Jack the lad’ who laughs at all his own jokes.
He said it was an honour to be involved in the world’s longest running radio drama, especially working alongside the most brilliant Jackie Lye who plays Joy Horville.
Martin told us: “My agent rang to say, Martin, we’ve got this part for you.
“It’s been offered to you personally too, which is great and it’s a character called Mick, who meets Joy at the Ambridge Folk Festival.
“I read the scripts and there are some fine pieces of comic writing there. My next appearance is on the 18th, Thursday.
“And I must admit, like a lot of actors, I shy away from watching or listening to myself but I did tune in and I thought I did a pretty decent job, made me laugh anyway.”
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The Archers has been on BBC Radio for over 70 years and basically tells the story of people who live and work in a rural part of the Midlands.
Martin says it was interesting recording a story about country folk in the city centre of Birmingham but as you know the pictures are always better on the radio, so it doesn’t matter where the microphone is.
He jokes that last time he was in a soap it was when Emmerdale was just an allotment.
He has been in numerous TV shows of course. Radio actors often read their scripts as they record but Martin said he had memorised the lines as he would have to do on TV and on stage in York.
Listen to the Archers here
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