Ysanne Churchman, who voiced Grace Archer in BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers in the 1950s, has died at the age of 99, the BBC announced.
She died peacefully at home on July 4, a statement from the corporation on behalf of the family said.
The Archers’ current editor Jeremy Howe said: “We are saddened by the death of Ysanne Churchman, whose role as the inimitable Grace Archer captured the nation.
“In the 1950s, Ysanne was at the heart of one of Ambridge’s most shocking storylines, with listeners so distraught at her character’s death they subsequently jammed BBC switchboards.
“Ysanne was a wonderful actress and off air she campaigned tirelessly for equal pay for women in the industry. She will be much missed by all at The Archers and our hearts are with her friends and family.”
On September 22 1955, 20 million listeners tuned in when the character of Grace tragically died in her husband’s arms after she tried to rescue a horse from a barn fire.
Her character’s death coincided with the launch of rival broadcaster ITV, which led to suggestions the BBC killed off Grace to deliberately overshadow ITV’s opening night.
The 2015 radio play Dead Girls Tell No Tales, released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Grace’s death, explored the storyline that had long been considered a “watershed moment”.
Sean O’Connor, who edited the long-running radio drama between 2013 and 2016, dismissed the suggestion that Grace’s death was a tactic against ITV, telling the Radio Times: “That is the folklore I inherited, and is what most of the people on the show believe, apart from the senior executives who knew the truth.”
Following the exit of Grace from The Archers, Churchman continued to work for the BBC in radio and TV. She reappeared in The Archers in various roles until the 1980s but not as Grace, and also voiced the character of Alpha Centauri in Doctor Who in the early 1970s.
Ysanne married Tony Pilgrim MBE, a senior BBC engineer, in 1951 and they celebrated their Diamond Wedding anniversary in 2011.
He died in January 2015 after 63 years of marriage.
Tributes have been flooding in for the actress on social media. A Doctor Who fan account tweeted: “We’re saddened to learn of the passing of Ysanne Churchman, who played the Third Doctor’s cyclops friend Alpha Centuri in the Peladon stories. She returned to the role over 40 years later in 2017’s Empress of Mars and was one of the show’s oldest surviving actors.”
Another penned: “The voice of Grace Archer and Alpha Centauri has passed away. Her place in radio and television history is assured. RIP Ysanne Churchman!”
A third wrote: “Legend! Oh bless her: Ysanne Churchman, who shocked the nation’s radio listeners as Grace Archer (perishing in a fire on the night ITV started) and made history by returning to Doctor Who to voice Alpha Centauri in 2017, 43 years after she’d last done so, has died aged 99. RIP.”
And a fourth said: “Her contributions to both radio and television will be remembered fondly. RIP Ysanne Churchman.”