The Archers’ June Spencer retires at age 103 after 72 years on the air as Peggy Woolley
After 72 years, the voice of The Archers’ Peggy Woolley has retired at the age of 103.
June Spencer, who first appeared on the Radio 4 soap in May 1950, was the only remaining member of the original cast, but eventually stepped down despite pleas from BBC bosses.
“I’ve been trying to retire for at least a year,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“They didn’t want to lose her character. Every time I tried to quit they gave me more episodes.
“The idea was that the rural characters who had to explain things to Peggy were educating the listeners.”
Original star: June Spencer (pictured), the voice of Peggy Woolley in The Archers, was the only member of the original cast
Miss Spencer, whose husband Roger Brocksom died in 2001, has recorded all of her final episodes, which aired on July 31.
They were recorded from a modified studio in her Surrey home, to save her from commuting to the show’s base in Birmingham.
Ms Woolley has not been officially removed from the show and Miss Spencer admitted she did not know how she would be unsubscribed.
Miss Spencer’s final episodes aired on July 31. Pictured left in 1950 while shooting a pilot for The Archers and right in her current handout photo from 2010
‘The simplest thing is if [Peggy has] a trap or something and goes into The Laurels [the fictional Ambridge care home],’ she said.
“She can languish there for years.”
The Duchess of Cornwall recently called Peggy Woolley a ‘national treasure’.