Grace Archer (also Fairbrother) is a fictional character from the BBC's long-running radio

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

, ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

''. She was one of the original characters and was played by Monica Gray and then Ysanne Churchman. The episode depicting her death was broadcast by the BBC on 22 September 1955, the same evening as the launch of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, so as to distract from it.

Storylines

Grace is the daughter of a wealthy English family. She falls in love with

Phil Archer Philip Walter Archer is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'', played by Norman Painting. He made his first appearance on 29 May 1950, the show's pilot episode. The character later became the longest serving ...

(

Norman Painting Norman George Painting (23 April 1924 – 29 October 2009) was an English actor, broadcaster and writer. He played Phil Archer in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'' from the pilot episodes aired on the BBC Midlands Home Service in s ...

), the son of a farmer, and they are married in April 1955. A few months later, a fire breaks out at the stables while the residents of the village are at a dinner in the church hall. Grace runs into the burning stables to try to save her friend's horse and, as she searches, a burning beam falls down onto her, leaving her trapped. Phil and the others at the party learn that Grace is trapped in the shed and they pull her from the wreckage. She is rushed to hospital, but is pronounced dead on arrival.

Reception

An audience of 20 million tuned into ''The Archers'' to hear Grace's death in 1955. A writer for the ''

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), who left the Dublin-based ''Freeman's ...

'' called Grace's death "One of the most controversial events in Ambridge history." Nick Collins, writing for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', named Grace's death as one of ''The Archers''' most shocking storylines In 2011, listeners voted Grace's death as their fifth most potent ''Archers'' memory in a poll conducted on the BBC's ''Archers'' website. The storyline received 9.7% of the vote. The scene is mentioned in the British sitcom '' The Good Life'' (series 3 episode 1).

References

External links

Grace Archer
at

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

The Archers characters Female characters in radio Fictional British people Radio characters introduced in 1955 {{soap-char-stub