Peggy Woolley
Margaret "Peggy" Beryl Woolley is a fictional character from the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. Portrayed by June Spencer for over 60 years, Peggy has served as the core family's – and by extension, the village's – matriarch. Until July 2022 Spencer was the only remaining member of the original cast. The character returned in a special prequel in 2025 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, in which she was voiced by Emerald O'Hanrahan, who also voices Emma Grundy in The Archers. The prequel takes place five years before The Archers.
The Independent newspaper has called Peggy "a fixture in the kitchens and sitting rooms of middle England since Clement Attlee was prime minister" and has a voice that is the "epitome of reassurance'. BBC Radio 4 calls the character a "traditionalist" who makes her "opinions known to her children if she felt they were contravening her strict moral code". Other commentators have labelled her as a "gangsta granny" and a "wealthy widow who lives in a grand house and controls family members using her money". Spencer also recorded episodes as Peggy at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Spencer originally spent three years in the role, starting in 1950, until quitting the serial in 1953, and being replaced by Thelma Rogers. Spencer twice returned to The Archers in the following years to play another character, Rita Flynn, and was part of the cast when Rogers vacated the role of Peggy in 1962. Spencer swiftly resumed the role of Peggy. The character has been a widow twice, first to Jack Archer, and later Jack Woolley, suffered a stroke, raised children and run a pub. In 2018, Spencer said one of her goals was to celebrate her 100th birthday in June 2019, while still performing in The Archers, a feat which she achieved. In December 2021, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall marked the 70th anniversary of The Archers, and helped Spencer, then 102 years old, cut the cake.
Casting and early years
Spencer got her first radio role at the age of 18 playing a child in a programme about the railways. Spencer said she did not need to audition for the role, because she was already contracted to the BBC to star in a string of other radio plays. "My work was well-known", she said. When she started on The Archers, she initially played two roles – Peggy Archer and Rita Flynn, a local Irish baker with a thick accent. "When The Archers started, there were only seven of us in that pilot episode," Spencer told the BBC in a 2012 interview. "In the very first few weeks, those of us who could were doubling parts and my other major part was as the Irish Rita Flynn and she had a very different voice". She says Peggy's voice was "very light and high in those days" while Rita's was "much darker and lower". The original cast were put on 13-week contracts. Experienced actors such as Spencer, were paid £12 for five episodes, while other actors were paid between £8 and £10.Spencer recalled in the same interview "barely having a free weekend" due to the demand of public appearances to promote the serial. "I can remember on one occasion being flown down to Cornwall in a rather ancient plane which had been very loosely adapted for civilian use," she told the BBC. "When we got there, there was a very large gathering of the Women's Institute for women all over Cornwall. Such was the popularity of the programme, I was literally mobbed."
Spencer said in a 2010 interview with The Independent that it was "very little pay" in the early days of the show. "There was plenty of time to do other things. I was doing a lot of radio at the time. There were only about 10 or 12 of us, now there are over 60." Spencer has also criticised The Archers creator Godfrey Baseley as being a "very abrupt man" who "could be very dictatorial" and "thought he was God". She added, "I can't say he was greatly loved". According to Spencer, "He wasn't very popular but he knew what he was doing when he invented The Archers."
Longevity and departure
In many interviews given around the time of the show's 60th anniversary in 2010, Spencer admitted that she did not see herself playing the part of Peggy Perkins as a long-term acting job.In an interview with Radio Times journalist David Brown, she says it was a "tuppenny-ha'penny thing" and "very badly paid". "I want to continue for as long as I can turn in a decent performance — I wouldn't want to go downhill", she told Brown. "But I'd like to turn 100 and still be in The Archers. I'm afraid I can't wait to retire until Peggy's 100 because she's five years younger than me. Spencer drove to the studio in Birmingham to record her lines up "a couple of times a week" until her mid-90s, but is now granted a company vehicle: "I have degeneration of my spine, which makes me very bent, so it's difficult to stand at the microphone, though the studio manager really looks after me and there's always a chair for me while we're waiting. Sometimes, if Peggy has to stand at the end of a scene, I fake the sound of making the effort to get up."
On 8 August 2022, Spencer confirmed that she had retired from The Archers after playing Peggy for more than 70 years. Her final appearance was broadcast on 31 July. Of her decision, Spencer stated: "In 1950, I helped to plant an acorn. It took root and in January 1951 it was planted out and called The Archers. Over the years it has thrived and become a splendid great tree with many branches. But now this old branch, known as Peggy, has become weak and unsafe so I decided it was high time she 'boughed' out, so I have duly lopped her." In the episode broadcast on 8 August, the character's son and daughter-in-law reflect on Peggy's life and agree that she is "an extraordinary woman." During the episode broadcast on 8 May 2025, her daughter Lilian informs her brother Tony that Peggy has died in her chair at her care home.
Development
Characterisation
In a 2010 interview with Chris Irvine of The Daily Telegraph, Peggy is described as a "matriarchal figure". Spencer gave a much more brutal assessment, saying her character was "a nice old thing" who didn't always "see the funny side of things". "Peggy's quite narrow-minded in some things," Spencer says. "When Ambridge had a female vicar, she disapproved to such an extent she wouldn't go to church. I wouldn't say no to a woman vicar. A good woman vicar is better than a bad male one.When Spencer was interviewed for the BBC radio show Desert Island Discs in 2010, she said listeners who met her often described how she looked exactly as they had imagined. "However, we don't have all that much in common," she told Kirsty Young. "I love my garden, although I can't do a lot in it these days and Peggy loves her garden and of course both have husbands with dementia. But I don't think Peggy has a sense of humour and I think I have. Sometimes funny things happen to Peggy and she doesn't always see the funny side of things, I'm afraid."
The programme's official website lists Peggy's 'likes' as going to church on Sunday, cats, and her garden; she dislikes mobile phones, loud music and "slack standards". "Peggy is a strong-minded woman, reflecting the character of her late mother, 'Mrs P'"; the website attributes Spencer as saying: "she also has a softer side, loving and loyal. She doesn't have a great sense of humour and has very strong principles." The show's editor Jeremy Howe, described Peggy as "utterly charming, utterly ruthless, sharp as a knife and witty in spades."
First years
Peggy Perkins is introduced as Jack Archer's "Londoner" wife in the first episodes broadcast in 1951 at a New Year's party held at the Archers' home. That same year, Peggy would give birth to her third child, Tony. The next year, Jack threw in the towel at the small goods shop and went into business in Cornwall with wartime pal, Barney Lee. However, Barney took a shine to Peggy, and they returned to Ambridge. 'The Bull' was firmly in Jack's sights, and he took over the licence. Peggy became the publican in 1953 after authorities caught Jack serving drinks after hours. In 1959, Aunt Laura loaned the couple the money to buy 'The Bull'. Peggy would be worried in 1961 by eldest daughter Jennifer's sudden return from a ski trip with a boyfriend called Max.Peggy and Jack extended the pub in 1964, once again with a loan from Aunt Laura, and built a new dining room and small flat for Laura. As her father's drinking worsened, Jennifer returned to work at 'The Bull' to support Peggy. Jack would later turn a part of the pub into a "playbar", complete with jukebox and espresso machine. However, soon a riot by the young people who were his target market landed Peggy with a charge of breaching the peace.
Jack's destructive drinking eventually saw him carted off to a rehabilitation clinic in Scotland after collapsing with liver damage. In 1972, Jack died, leaving Peggy behind the taps at 'The Bull'. As stoic as ever, she continued on until her temporary manager, Dick Corbey, stole money from her.