June Spencer: I’ve recorded my final episode as The Archers’ Peggy Woolley at the age of 103

When June Spencer recorded the first episode of a radio programme about farming in 1951, she thought it would be just another short-lived BBC drama.

But 71 years later, Spencer is only just leaving The Archers, recording her last episode as Peggy Woolley (formerly Archer) at the age of 103, The Telegraph can exclusively reveal.

“I’ve been trying to retire for at least a year”, she told the newspaper in an interview from her retirement home in Surrey.

“They didn’t want to lose her character. Every time I tried to stop they gave me more episodes.”

Spencer was the last remaining member of the original Archers cast. Peggy, who is now the matriarch of the Archers family, was a critical part of the programme’s original purpose to educate people about new farming methods. “The idea was that the country characters having to explain things to Peggy educated the listeners”, said Spencer.

Spencer has already recorded her last episodes for the programme, which were broadcast on July 31.

Peggy has not yet been officially written out of the show, meaning the producers will have to manage her exit off-stage.

Even Spencer herself doesn’t know how Peggy will be written out, but suggested that they don’t need “to kill her off”.

“The simplest thing is if [Peggy has] a fall or something and goes into [fictional Ambridge care home] The Laurels”, said Spencer.

“She can languish for years there.”

Peggy was often seen as a traditionalist character, who upheld social rules like marrying before having children. When Ambridge got a female vicar in the 1990s, she started worshipping at another church.

Spencer said Peggy is often seen as “bossy”, and usually isn’t the favourite character of younger audiences, who don’t understand her attitudes. She added that she believes Peggy’s marriage to Jack Woolley in 1991 softened her character significantly and “she became a much happier person”.

After seven decades of playing Peggy, Spencer knows the character better than anyone, and says the writers can get it wrong.

“They’ve run away with the idea that Peggy is very rich after Jack died, but she’s not”, said Spencer.

“I had to correct them on that, because Peggy’s been giving money away, left right and centre, but she hasn’t got any. Jack didn’t leave her any, he left it all to his stepdaughter.”

Spencer says there will be no big send-off for her, as the programme already threw her a tea party for her 100th birthday.

Her final episodes were recorded from a recording studio that producers constructed at her home, after the journey from Surrey to the Archers headquarters in Birmingham became too much. “David Troughton [who plays Tony Archer] came down, and we did this final scene together, and then they packed up and went home”, she said. “That was it.”

Over the years, she has won the affection of millions of listeners, including many in high places. In December, the Duchess of Cornwall invited Spencer and her co-stars to Clarence House for a reception to mark the 70th anniversary of The Archers.

The Duchess released a statement marking Spencer’s retirement, calling Peggy “a true national treasure who has been part of my life, and millions of others, for as long as I can remember”.

Spencer is most proud of the 2000s storyline when Peggy’s husband Jack Woolley was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The storyline was close to home for both Spencer and Arnold Peters, who played Jack. Spencer’s husband Roger Brocksom died of Alzheimer’s in 2001, and Peters himself also died from it in 2013.

“I think we can feel proud over storylines like that”, said Spencer. “I think we really have done a lot of good.”