Ysanne Churchman, voice of Grace Archer in The Archers in 1950s, dies aged 99

Actress 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 said.

She died peacefully at home on July 4, a statement from the corporation on behalf of the family said.

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 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.”

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.

“But there were slightly different versions of that truth, some of them more melodramatic than others.”

Writing in The Times following Churchman’s death, O’Connor recounted a meeting with the actress, where she had departed “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” as she saw it.

O’Connor wrote: “Grace’s death was nothing to do with the launch of ITV or the dwindling number of radio licences.

“She explained that the editor and creator of the programme, Godfrey Baseley, had a personal vendetta against her. Her departure from the programme was a result of what we would now regard as workplace bullying.”

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.