For 36 years Graham Blockey, who has died of cancer aged 66 following a short illness, was the voice of Robert Snell in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers. Throughout that time, he also worked as a full-time GP serving patients in the village of South Holmwood, near Dorking in Surrey.
He joined the cast of The Archers in 1986, along with Carole Boyd, who plays Lynda Snell. The Archers editor Jeremy Howe said: “Graham Blockey’s Robert was a quiet wonder to behold – the perfect foil to the exuberant idiosyncrasies of Lynda, sort of Wise to her Morecambe.”
Graham was born in Manchester, the son of Joyce (nee Farquhar-Young), a physiotherapist and Noel Blockey, an orthopaedic consultant. He grew up near Glasgow and attended Fettes college, where he developed a taste for acting. At Newcastle University, where he studied medicine, he was a leading member of the theatre society.
In 1980, after graduating, he spent a year as a junior A&E doctor at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, west London. Determined to give acting a go, he took a postgraduate course at the Bristol Old Vic, going on to work in touring repertory theatre before joining the BBC’s Radio Drama Company in 1984; 18 months later, he took on his role in The Archers.
Tired of too much “resting” between Archers recordings, he returned to locum hospital work in the late 80s. In an interview on his retirement he said: “I was doing things like playing a tomato in pantomime and I started to think, ‘Hang on a minute, perhaps medicine is more fulfilling’.” He then decided to train as a GP, which he saw as the best job in medicine as he could get to know the patients and be involved in the community. In 1993 he became a partner at the Leith Hill practice in South Holmwood. Most of his patients remained unaware of his radio persona.
Graham did everything to the full, whether training for marathons or studying for work. In 2013 he completed a PGCE as a GP trainer. He was an accomplished yachtsman, sailing to France or the Channel Islands most years, and he loved walking, skiing and travelling. In 2006 he and son, Jamie, climbed Kilimanjaro, and in 2009 he trekked in Nepal with his daughter, Olivia, and wife, Christine (nee Ingram), a cookery writer and sometime Archers scriptwriter. In 2019 he volunteered with the Vine Trust to join a team of medics providing primary care for remote communities on Lake Victoria, Tanzania.
For Chris, who Graham married in 1987, he was the perfect partner: crewmate, fixer, fellow walker, cineaste, Guardian crossword lover and playgoer. For their children, Olivia and Jamie, he was an inspiring, beloved father. For his many friends, he was great company: entertaining, informed, curious and empathic. He will be profoundly missed by all who were fortunate to know him.
Graham is survived by Chris, Olivia and Jamie, his granddaughter, Margaux, and his siblings, Ian and Fay.
