Actress June Spencer – most famous for her role in the long-running BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers – has died at the age of 105, her family has said.
She played Peggy Woolley in the programme’s first episode in 1951 and, barring a break from the show, played the role until her retirement in 2022, aged 103.
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, who so lovingly cared for her in the last two years.”
The character of Peggy, who was a matriarch on the show, began as a left-wing firebrand, but as the years went on was often viewed as a traditionalist and conservative.
Her on-air storylines saw her character deal with alcoholism, gambling and bereavement.
The rural drama, with its well-known jaunty theme tune, charts the ups and downs of farming life in fictional Ambridge.
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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.
Spencer was one of the original cast, but left in 1953 and was replaced by Thelma Rogers.
She returned to the show to play other characters at times during the 1950s, before reprising her role as Peggy in 1961 -continuing until her retirement in 2022.
The late Queen Elizabeth was one of the actress’s many fans, inviting Spencer and her Archers co-stars to Clarence House for a reception marking the show’s 70th anniversary in 2021.
Queen Camilla also made a cameo appearance as herself in a special 60th-anniversary episode of the show in 2011.