The Archers super fan Queen Camilla pays tribute to much loved June Spencer following her death aged 105 - after star played Peggy Woolley on the radio soap for more than 70 years
The Queen has said The Archers actress June Spencer will be greatly missed following her death aged 105.
The Queen has said The Archers actress June Spencer will be greatly missed following her death aged 105.
Spencer had played matriarch Peggy Woolley in the BBC Radio 4 show since its first episode in 1951, and was credited as being the longest-serving character on the longest running soap in the world when she announced her retirement in 2022 - at the age of 103.
Her many fans over the years included Camilla, who invited Spencer and her co-stars to Clarence House for a reception marking the shows 70th anniversary in 2021.
She once described June, who was made both an OBE and CBE and received the Freedom of the City, as a national treasure.
Camilla also made a cameo appearance as herself in a special episode marking the 60th anniversary of the show.
The Queen has said The Archers actress June Spencer will be greatly missed following her death aged 105
Junes many fans over the years included Camilla, who invited Spencer and her co-stars to Clarence House for a reception marking the shows 70th anniversary in 2021
The Queen once described June, who was made both an OBE and CBE and received the Freedom of the City, as a national treasure
For over 70 years, June Spencer was a much-loved part of so many peoples lives, brilliantly combining in Peggy Woolley the roles of reassuring matriarch and gangsta granny, the Queen said in a statement shared on the official Royal Family social media accounts.
She will be greatly missed and I send my heartfelt condolences to her family.
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.
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.
A statement released by the BBC, on behalf of the family, 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.
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 said working with June was like working with a legend.
Mr Howe added: June Spencer wasnt just a brilliant Peggy Woolley, the ultimate matriarch of Ambridge, but a brilliant actress.
I only ever worked with her in radio, but her technique, her precision, her delivery were flawless.
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.
Miss Spencers last episodes were broadcast on July 31. Pictured on the left in 1950 recording a pilot for The Archers and on the right in her current handout picture from 2010
Original star: June Spencer (pictured), the voice of Peggy Woolley in The Archers, was the only member of the original cast
Here she is pictured in character, when Perry Archer as she then was married Jack Woolley - played by Arnold Peters, who died in May 2013
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.
June first heard about a potential role in the Archers whilst working on a series of small parts on BBC radio programmes in 1950.
Whilst in the Corporations canteen, she heard the shows founder Godfrey Baseley had openly spoke about her being in the new programme.
Following a few pilot episodes, the Archers was launched on New Years Day, 1951 - with June Spencer playing a heavily pregnant Grace Archer.
She initially signed 13-week contract and was not expecting much from the role, but the show became an instant hit. In the modern day, the show averages around 5 million listeners a week.
In the mid-1950s, Spencer took a break from playing Peggy and the role was taken over by Thelma Rogers, before returning in the early 1960s.
The BBC said The Archers will mark her characters 100th birthday next week.
Peggy had been a silent character since the Nottingham-born actresss retirement.
Mohit Bakaya, controller of Radio 4, called Spencer a longstanding presence and companion for Radio 4 listeners during her exceptional run on the radio soap.
Many have grown up with June as Peggy and listened as she journeyed through lifes many chapters, with all of its ups and downs, Mr Bakaya added.
In her later years, her portrayal of a devoted wife caring for a husband with dementia, including their very moving final goodbye, was deeply poignant and powerful radio.
Junes character Peggy served as the shows core familys – and by extension, the villages – matriarch
Ms Spencer made her first appearance on the Radio 4 soap in May 1950 and was the only remaining member of the original cast before finally stepping down two years ago
The actress, who played the character from 1950 to 1953 and again from 1962 to 2022, died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Friday
June first heard about a potential role in the Archers whilst working on a series of small parts on BBC radio programmes in 1950
We send all our love and condolences to Junes family and the many people whose lives she touched.
Peggys first husband, Jack Archer, was a gambler and alcoholic, and her second, Jack Woolley (Arnold Peters), was diagnosed with dementia, which prompted a moving storyline long before the condition became a national talking point.
Due to the slow moving nature of the daily show, each disease unfolded in real time and both issues were also prevalent in Peggys real life.
Her husband Roger, who passed away in 2001, was also an Alzhemier suffer and she was consulted by scriptwriters when Peggys husband was given the same disease in The Archers.
Five years after Rogers passing, her son David, 55, a ballet dancer who had lost his career through injury, died of alcohol abuse.
We tackle difficult situations that come up in real life, and treat them without being sensational, she said.
I think people appreciate that. When they have the same sort of problems, they hear how the Archers coped, and I think it helps them.
June Spencer recording with Arnold Peters in BBC Radio 4s The Archers
Peggy Archer (June Spencer) marries Jack Woolley (Arnold Peters) in The Archers
June (second left) celebrating the 30th Anniversary with the rest of the cast of The Archers
June Rosalind Spencer was born on 14 June 1919, six months after the end of World War One
