Soapworld
The Archers’ Ysanne Churchman dies aged 99
Ysanne also appeared in fellow midland television soap Crossroads and more recently Doctor Who…
Ysanne Churchman became best known to radio audiences in the 1950s as Grace Archer in the BBC serial The Archers. It was that role that also saw an infamous incident that put the character into media history.
Her character’s storyline on the long-running radio show came to a dramatic end when the BBC attempted to sabotage ITV’s first night on air in September 1955. It was a shocking plot that left listeners horrified. After four years as Grace she was killed off in a ratings-grabbing stable blaze. BBC News note that ‘her death, listened to by more than 20 million people, overshadowed the launch of ITV and became the talk of the nation.’
BBC News recalled the storyline which listeners heard ‘Grace leave a dinner party to retrieve an earring she thought she’d left in the car. She noticed the stables were on fire, rushed in to rescue the horses, and the building collapsed on her. She was rushed to hospital but died on the way, in Phil’s arms, after telling him she loved him. They had only been married six months.’
The Archers’ regular listeners were a mix of furious and distraught by the way Grace met her fate and thousands of them called the corporation in disgust over the following two days. Something which rarely happened in those civil days of the fifties. Newspapers also ran articles and irate letters from readers about the stunt the Beeb had pulled in an attempt to detract from Associated-Rediffusion and ATV London going on air with the launch of commercial ITV in the UK.
Ironically Ysanne in 1965 switched over to ITV with a stint in fellow midland daily soap opera Crossroads as Daphne Wallace the ‘other woman’ in the marriage of George and Mable Gifford who were the parents of main character Janice Jarvis. She later returned to the soap two years later in another small role.
Over the years she also featured in sixteen episodes of Doctor Who, the first in 1972 and her last in 2017. Guest roles across the years saw her appear in shows such as police serials Z Cars and Softly Softy, football serial United!, all for the BBC, and over on ITV in Associated-Rediffusion’s science fiction drama Space Patrol. Despite an apparent row with BBC Radio over pay – Ysanne wanting to be paid the same as the male actors in the programme – she returned to The Archers to voice a further five characters after Grace, the last being in 1983.
The BBC announced today that the actress, who worked across radio, TV and film for over 50 years, died peacefully at the age of 99 in her home earlier this month.
