The Archers legend June Spencer who starred in first episode dies aged 105

The Archers star June Spencer, who played matriarch Peggy Woolley in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, has died at the age of 105, her family has said. Spencer, who was born in Nottingham in 1919, had played the character since the show’s first episode in 1951, and when she announced her retirement in 2022, aged 103, was credited as being the longest-serving character in the programme.

A statement released by the BBC said: “June Spencer, aged 105, best known for playing Peggy in BBC Radio 4 The Archers, died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of this morning. Her family would like to pay particular tribute and thanks to the staff team at Liberham Lodge (care home in Surrey), who so lovingly cared for her in the last two years.”

She went to Nottingham Girls' High School before joining an amateur dramatic society and obtaining a London Guildhall School of Music and Drama certificate. The character she played for more than 70 years, Peggy, was often viewed as a traditionalist, a conservative character in the long-running drama charting the ups and downs of life in fictional Ambridge.

Spencer first joined The Archers for a pilot episode in 1950, and on-air her storylines saw her character deal with alcoholism, gambling and bereavement. Jeremy Howe, editor of The Archers, said working with her was “one of the great privileges of my time at the BBC”, and added that aside from performing as “the ultimate matriarch of Ambridge”, she was a “brilliant actress”.

He also said: “One of the cast once remarked that in all her time in the show he had only ever heard her fluff her lines the once. She was an actress who revelled in her craft, someone who could score a bullseye with a gently insulting cough as if it were a bon mot from Oscar Wilde.

“She was also a great company member – funny, sharp, warm, never gossipy, but with wonderful stories of the early days of radio drama, self-deprecating and a great companion.” Mr Howe also hailed her as “the queen” of the soap, and said with “her death The Archers has lost its link with the birth of the show over 70 years ago”.

“It is a humbling moment for us all,” he added. Her many fans over the years include the Queen, who in 2021 invited Spencer and her co-stars to Clarence House for a reception marking the show’s 70th anniversary.

Camilla also made a cameo appearance as herself in a special episode marking the 60th anniversary of the show. The BBC said The Archers will mark her character’s 100th birthday next week. Peggy had been a silent character since her retirement.

Peggy’s first husband, Jack Archer, was a gambler and alcoholic, and her second, Jack Woolley (Arnold Peters), suffered from dementia, which prompted a moving storyline long before the condition became a national talking point. Spencer’s real life husband, Roger Brocksom, died in 2001 after suffering dementia, shortly before her on-air husband in The Archers had Alzheimer’s.

Her adopted son David, a classical dancer, died after a battle with alcoholism. Peters died in May 2013 aged 87 after suffering from Alzheimer’s.