NEWS: AMBRIDGE, Tika Sumpter, Bradford Anderson, Ashley Judd

First Listen: AMBRIDGE EXTRA, BBC Radio 4 Extra
The first voice we heard had an American accent, of the Deep South persuasion (badly affected, in the great tradition of radio drama), recanting about the importance of marriage. Listeners were promised a trip out of the safety of Ambridge – but across the Atlantic? Perhaps not though – with the clunky insertion of a date, listeners old and new know they are hearing something that happened last year: "The Wedding March" and pealing bells quieten, and with the introduction of some unfamiliar voices, we are with Alice Carter, née Aldridge, and her Southampton University friends watching the DVD of her Las Vegas wedding to Christopher Carter – a source of great controversy in Ambridge at the time.

Tika Sumpter: I always want to have something to offer
"I hope to be doing more film and maybe musical theater. I want to have a solid, consistent career. I never want it to be flimsy. I always want to have something to offer."

BBC To Air ARCHERS Spin-off On Digital Station

Fans of Radio 4's THE ARCHERS are about to get a whole lot more Ambridge after the BBC revealed details of a spin-off show, AMBRIDGE EXTRA, to broadcast on digital station Radio 4 Extra.

The new show will feature more stories from in and around Ambridge, including new characters and storylines that are not featured in the main Radio 4 show.

AMBRIDGE EXTRA, which will begin with a 13-week series in the spring with a second 13-week run in the autumn, will broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m., with repeats on the same days at 2.15 p.m., after THE ARCHERS on Radio 4.