Actress June Spencer, who played Peggy Woolley on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers for more than 70 years, has died aged 105.
A statement from her family released by the BBC said she died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Friday morning.
It added: "Her family would like to pay particular tribute and thanks to the staff team at Liberham Lodge, who so lovingly cared for her in the last two years."
Paying tribute, the show's current editor Jeremy Howe said working with her "was like working with a legend".
He added: "June’s Peggy Woolley was and always will be the Queen of Ambridge, and with her death The Archers has lost its link with the birth of the show over 70 years ago. It is a humbling moment for us all."
Meanwhile, Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya hailed Spencer’s role as a “longstanding presence and companion” for listeners.
He added: "Many have grown up with June as Peggy and listened as she journeyed through life’s many chapters, with all of its ups and downs. In her later years, her portrayal of a devoted wife caring for a husband with dementia, including their very moving final goodbye, was deeply poignant and powerful radio.
"We send all our love and condolences to June’s family and the many people whose lives she touched."
Spencer’s impressive turn in the long-running drama, which charted the ups and downs of life in fictional Ambridge, began with the very first episode back in 1951.
Her on-screen alter-ego was often viewed as a traditionalist, conservative character.
The Nottinham-born actress left the radio soap three years later to raise her two children whom she adopted with her husband Roger Brocksom, but returned in 1962 until her retirement in July 2022.
During her nine years off the soap, she was replaced by Thelma Rogers.
She was one of the show's original cast members, and said of her time on the show in 2019: "I had no idea I'd be ever be 100 for a start, let alone still working!
"It's been marvellous, I hope I can keep on doing it for a bit, and perhaps set an example to older people who have just given up.”
Reflecting on her decision to leave the show for good three years later, she said: "In 1950 I helped to plant an acorn. It took root and in January 1951 it was planted out and called The Archers."
She added that "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".
Queen Camilla was among Spencer's many fans, and as Duchess of Cornwall she invited the actress and her co-stars to Clarence House for a reception in 2021 to mark the show's 70th anniversary.
At the time, she called Spencer "a true national treasure who has been part of my life, and millions of others, for as long as I can remember".
Last year the Queen celebrated the 20,000th episode of the show by raising a glass to the "joy, tears and laughter" it gives.
