BBC star says his character would be 'horrified' by Rachel Reeves family farm tax

Distinguised, cultured, suave and authoritative, actor Charles Collingwood has one of the most recognisable voices on radio after 50 years playing philandering farmer Brian Aldridge in Radio 4’s The Archers. But had the actor’s tutors at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art had their way, his rich upper class vocals might have sounded altogether different.

For instead of being praised for his dulcet tones, the aspect of Charles’ acting that his teachers found fault with the most was, surprisingly, the way he spoke. “In shops and supermarkets people very often say, ‘You’ve got such a lovely voice’ and it may well have been an asset in my career, though it’s no credit to me, it’s what I was given,”

Charles reasons.“I think it’s because my voice is clear. I’m quite critical of people that are grammatically incorrect. I’m not being snobbish, but the voice is such a beautiful instrument, so it slightly grates on me if someone just doesn’t care how it sounds.

“But the funny thing about it was that when I was at RADA, the thing I was criticised for all the time was my voice. I was told it was too casual, it was too throwaway, it was too this and too that.”

He gives a small chuckle. “Anyway, it’s served me well and people have been very sweet and said lovely things about my voice. I’m 82 this May and I might meet God quite soon, so I will thank him for giving it to me!”

The voice of course has helped establish Brian as one of The Archers’ most notorious Lotharios. This month Charles celebrates an incredible 50 years in the show.

After breezing into Ambridge in 1975 and marrying Jennifer, he cheated on her, first with aristocratic Caroline Bone.

Then came flirtations with cleaner Betty Tucker, pony club instructor Mandy Beesborough and twin town delegate Marie-Claire Beguet, before – infamously – a full-blown affair with doctor’s wife Siobhan Hathaway, leading to the birth of their love child Ruairi.

“It’s always been such fun to play,” Charles smiles. “Even now, he’s having an affair with Miranda. Lucy Fleming who plays Miranda is the daughter of Celia Johnson.

“I just love the idea that Brian Aldridge is having a brief encounter with the daughter of the woman who was the star of Brief Encounter. I think it’s rather neat.”

Off-screen the actor has been happily married for 49 years to his former co-star Judy Bennett (who played Shula Hebden-Lloyd).

The couple share a daughter Jane, a voice-over artist, and a nine year-old grandson. According to Charles, playing a cad on screen has had its perks.

“It’s allowed me to be serially unfaithful fictitiously, while having a lovely, settled home life with Judy,” he chuckles.

Judy clocked up 50 years in the show herself, but left last year. “We live in Hampshire, six miles from the sea. It’s quite a long drive to Birmingham and back,” Charles explains. “I’m still very happy to do it but she’d had enough.”

Set in the fictional farming community of Ambridge, The Archers is the world’s longest running soap opera – having first been broadcast in 1950.

It has never shied away from political issues affecting rural communities and Brian reveals that the Government’s controversial inheritance tax raid on farmers is to be covered in the show too. Since Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ changes to agricultural inheritance tax relief last year, farmers have reacted with anger, descending on Downing Street in their thousands to protest the move. The Government has insisted the 20% inheritance tax on farms worth over £1million only affect the wealthiest quarter of landowners.

But critics claim family-run farms with tight margins will be forced to sell up in order to pay death duties. The Daily Express has launched a Save Our Family Farms campaign to try and change the Government’s mind. Charles says: “It’s important we reflect what is happening and the issues that affect people. It’s wonderful that we can do that. I am very aware of the issue of inheritance tax and the story is being highlighted. I can’t give too much away, but along the line we’ve got to cover that story and I’m sure we’ll do it well.”

He sighs. “I have great sympathy, because it seems to me that farmers are asset rich and cash poor and so my sympathies tend towards the farming community. My guess is Brian would be horrified by the changes, but I haven’t read the scripts yet.”

Recording the programme takes place over ten days a month which has allowed Charles to work elsewhere throughout his career. In the mid-Nineties he was well-known as the regular score-keeper on Noel Edmonds BBC One quiz show Telly Addicts.

He has also appeared in shows including Midsomer Murders and Morse, appeared in the West End and films, as well as spending 30 years working in schools’ television.

Born in Canada and educated in Dorset, Charles began his career in children’s programmes, appearing in The Secret Garden and The Raven and the Cross. His association with The Archers began in 1974, when, a year before Brian Aldridge arrived in Ambridge, Charles, then 31, was hired to play Dave Escott.

“He was a dodgy paint salesman,” he recalls. “Peggy Archer took him on to decorate The Bull and in the end he did a flit.

“During his time decorating the pub he had a mild flirtation with Peggy. This will give you some indication how long I’ve been involved with the programme – the actress playing Peggy died a few weeks ago aged 105!”

Over his 50 years as Brian, Charles has featured in a host of storylines, but like many his favourite was his character’s shocking affair with Siobhan.

“Because it lasted three years, he had the love child and it did grab the attention,” he explains.

More than 4.7 million listeners tuned in to hear Brian’s 2002 confession to his devastated wife Jennifer. “One of the joys of a radio soap like The Archers is that we can do things in real time,” Charles says. “Television gobbles up pictures and stories, whereas in The Archers we can take our time and be reflective.”

Not every storyline has given him as much pleasure however and he found it particularly hard when actress Angela Piper who played his wife Jennifer, left the show three years ago and her character was killed off. “I had some horribly harrowing scenes to play for several weeks, grieving for my wife,” he recalls.

“It’s impossible as an actor not to get affected when you’re playing scenes of deep emotion. There was another time when Kate, our 16-year-old daughter, was missing for months.

“My real daughter was the same age. When I got the script there was a scene where it said: ‘Brian breaks down and cries.’ I thought: ‘Oh my God, I don’t think I’ve ever had to cry on air or on television.’

“So, when I read the script, I substituted the name Kate for the name of my daughter Jane and thought of my real daughter as I read it and tears poured down my face. It was extraordinary.”

Regular listeners will know that over the years Brian has survived an angina attack and being hospitalised by a rampaging cow. More recently, there has been the blow of being forced to sell his beloved farm house.

But as far as Charles is concerned there’s still plenty of life and storylines in the old dog yet, although even after 50 years he refuses to take the job for granted.

“If you talk to any actor, they still feel insecure that they might be written out,” he says. “Brian once bought an aeroplane and I just said to the producer: ‘Does it crash?’

“I’d like to stay as long as I’m able. I will know when to stop. I was very keen on sport and I gave up playing cricket in the nick of time, before it became a bit silly and I think the same thing about work.

“If I start being a bit wandering and all over the place and my voice changes, then I’d be off, but until then I’m really happy playing Brian. I love it. It’s what I do.”

*The Archers is on Radio 4 every Sunday to Friday at 7pm and is available to stream on BBC Sounds