Christine Barford née Archer, formerly Johnson (born 21 December 1931) (Lesley Saweard, formerly played by Pamela Mant[1] and briefly Joyce Gibbs), is the younger sister of Phil.
Bellamy senior died in 1980, but Lilian unaccountably returned to Ambridge in 2003 and took up with Matt Crawford (then a married man); her exploits caused much gnashing of teeth from her respectable sister Jennifer Aldridge.
Coping with the childhood arthritis of her son, Daniel, did not help, nor did her husband's gambling addiction, which nearly destroyed their marriage before he finally admitted to owing huge sums to Matt Crawford and others.
Over recent years he has become increasingly caring, for example driving up to Northumberland to bring his widowed mother-in-law to stay, and renting a piece of land to Joe Grundy to allow him to keep the barn he had erected without planning permission.
His cowman's heavy-handed advice (which he and Ruth reluctantly accepted) that they should dispense with the services of Shula's husband as vet for their dairy herd in favour of a specialist caused a serious family rift, and was followed by his near-affair with Sophie Barlow.
She has since undergone breast reconstruction surgery, and coped rather better than David with the sudden transformation of priggish daughter Pip into a very stroppy seventeen-year-old with a much older boyfriend, Jude, who eventually dropped her.
Pip split from her first boyfriend, Jonathan, a boy she met at her YFC (Young Farmers Club), and began an affair with a much older man, a mature student at Borchester College called Jude Simpson.
He has spent much time playing computer games with Rúairi Donovan (Brian Aldridge’s son) and since gaining a voice they have taken a huge interest in off-road driving and Ben helped Jill in the kitchen at Christmas.
[25] Despite being severely affected by her death, Will's pride and stubbornness prevented him from seeking counselling for his grief, and his worsened temper and aggression led to him driving away both Jake and Mia, leaving him with only his biological daughter, Poppy.
She studied at Oxford University and was leader of a rewilding scheme aiming at improving the natural life around Ambridge along with Pip Archer and Rex Fairbrother until moving to Scotland for a new job.
[35] Elizabeth Pargetter, née Archer (Alison Dowling) is Phil and Jill's younger daughter and, along with Kenton, at first rejected village life, attempting a career in publicity in London.
Lily Rosalind and Frederick Hugo "Freddie" Pargetter (Katie Redford and Toby Laurence, formerly played by Georgie Feller and Jack Firth) are Elizabeth and Nigel's twins.
[38] Paying tribute to him, editor Jeremy Howe stated: "Ian had a lot more gas in the tank and was desperate to return to Ambridge once his health permitted... We will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family and friends and everyone who knew him.
"[38] Howe said Pepperell played Roy as "genial and anxious, funny and sad, easy-going and permanently stressed – a man who could hold down with ease a top job, yet who always carried with him Hamlet's sense of failure.
[39] Alan Franks, played by John Telfer, is the latest in a series of eccentric village vicars, was appointed to Ambridge and neighbouring parishes in 2003, moving from Nottingham where he had previously worked as an accountant and a non-stipendiary minister.
Occasionally Jazzer manages to surprise everyone with a sensitive side, such as when he wowed the audience of Ambridge's Got Talent with his heartfelt rendition of a Scottish folk song ("Roses of Prince Charlie").
[42] She is friends with Ruth Archer (Felicity Finch) and had a rescue greyhound called Weaver, who had to be euthanized after suffering fatal injuries when he was hit by a trailer whilst chasing after a hare.
"[51] John "Jack" Archer (Denis Folwell), son of Dan, elder brother of Phil and Christine, first husband of Peggy, née Perkins, later Woolley, father of Jennifer, Lilian and Tony; died in 1972 of liver failure.
She was found alive and spent a week in hospital being treated for pneumonia but died of heart failure soon after being discharged on St Valentine's Day while her friend Freddy Danby read to her from Moby-Dick.
Making his debut in 1983, he was once considered to be somewhat dim and irresponsible, wearing a gorilla suit at a hunt ball in 1983, inadvertently joy riding with Shula Archer in 1984 and driving an ice-cream van as 'Mr Snowy' in 1986.
Nigel (who also had a never-seen sister, Camilla who was married to a man named James) had only intermittent help from his beloved mother, Julia; more often she was a source of anxiety and friction (due to her dislike of Elizabeth, which, happily ceased once Freddie and Lily were born), but she died suddenly in November 2005.
[57] Walter Gabriel (Robert Mawdesley and Chris Gittins), originally a smallholder, was a friend of the Archers and provided comic relief in the years before the Grundy family were given greater prominence.
Joe Grundy (born 18 September 1921) (Edward Kelsey, formerly played by Reg Johnston and Haydn Jones), was the oldest of this well-established local family and often provided comic relief.
He displayed vitriolic homophobia towards Sean Myerson, a professional rival, when the latter captained the village cricket team, and again when Adam Macy began a relationship with Ian Craig, the Grey Gables chef.
Tregorran was the author with Jennifer Aldridge of Ambridge: an English village through the ages (really written by William Smethurst); London: Borchester Press in association with Methuen by arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation, 1982.
Using the cover of an Internet business and an imaginary step family, she failed in an attempt to con Jack and Peggy and gain control of the Grey Gables hotel and leisure complex.
[65] After only seven months of marriage he suffered a fatal heart attack and left her the Dower House and a majority share in the Bull (which she sold to Lilian Bellamy, in order to raise funds to buy Grey Gables).
He was persuaded to co-operate with the authorities (in contrast with his less scrupulous colleague Stephen "Chalkie" Chalkman), but on practically the eve of the trial he fled in panic to Costa Rica, planning to live there as a fugitive.
He became quite the local villain during his relatively brief tenure: Mike Tucker lost an eye in an accident, Caroline Bone (later Sterling) and Marjorie Antrobus were swindled out of a sizeable portion of their savings, and a pregnant Elizabeth Archer was abandoned at a motor service station as he fled overseas to escape arrest.
Following a long and intense trial, during which the truth of Rob's abusive nature was exposed publicly, as well as the revelation that he had raped Helen, she was acquitted on both counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.