Away from The Archers, the character has appeared in the Rwandan radio soap Urunana, the BBC telethon Children in Need and has been frequently parodied on the comedy programme Dead Ringers.

[1] During the script meeting to invent David's new love interest, the writers played with the idea of making the character Scottish and calling her either Anne, Heather or Thistle to show off her spiky nature.

[5] In her fictional backstory, Ruth was born on 16 June 1968 to Solly (Richard Griffiths) and Heather Pritchard (Joyce Gibbs; Margaret Jackman).

[8] Speaking to the BBC, Finch said Ruth "is strong willed, determined and pretty direct in her approach to life and people in general.

[3] Robert Hanks writing for The Independent described Ruth as The Archers' "matriarch-in-waiting" and said she is "a family lynchpin – loyal wife, loving mother, and handy in the milking-shed when called on.

[7] Finch thought Ruth and David had "a really believable partnership" and were well-suited, saying "They are both very capable of becoming highly emotional if something riles them but thankfully they tend to react to different things.

Joanna Toye and Adrian Flynn, authors of The Archers Encyclopaedia, said Ruth took to motherhood well and did not let it stop her from playing an active part in Brookfield.

[7] Toye and Flynn observed that Ruth and David's marriage had to be strong when the Archer siblings began arguing over who would inherit Brookfield Farm.

[16] In 2013, Ruth and David celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and Finch hoped the couple would continue to make Brookfield a thriving business, while relaxing into semi-retirement.

[11] Finch commented, "Any couple who after 25 years still love going out for meals together, having the occasional break away without the kids and the odd roll in a haystack are doing pretty well I reckon.

[20] Breast cancer nurse Vickki Harmer acted as a consultant to the scriptwriters during the storyline and BBC Radio 4 invited listeners to ring a helpline for further advice after Ruth received her diagnosis.

[19] When Ruth's chemotherapy treatment began during the Autumn months, David, Heather and close friend Usha (Souad Faress) were a constant source of support and comfort to her.

[22] Speaking to The Observer's Sue Arnold, Finch believed The Archers had done "a great service for women's health" by tackling the subject of breast cancer.

[3] Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breakthrough said The Archers treated the subject of breast cancer "as sensibly as one can reasonably expect.

[24] In contrast, the radio series Feedback reported that the storyline had initially attracted a negative response from listeners, who felt the subject should have been handled with more optimism.

Soap Opera author Dorothy Hobson wrote that it was a "drastic measure", but believed the storyline to be part of The Archers' continued commitment in responding to topical events.

[25] Whitburn told Samantha Lyster from the Birmingham Post, "We decided that David and Ruth Archer should isolate themselves because they had just taken control of the farm and they had the most to lose should foot-and-mouth hit them.

"[31] Elisabeth Mahoney from The Guardian observed that Ruth and David's marriage imploded while Sophie was around and she said the speed at which it happened made for genuinely shocking listening.

[33] Mahoney said "Felicity Finch and Tim Bentinck spat their toxic lines out with much relish, and for once emphatically shook off their characters' middle-of-the-road cosiness and golden couple status.

[31] The episode was written by Joanna Toye, who told Emily Lambert of the Western Mail that the traffic jam was used to increase the tension.

[34] Editor Vanessa Whitburn told Chris Arnot of The Independent that the climax to the storyline was planned three months prior to the show's anniversary.

[37] Victoria Summerley from The Independent noted the character was "instantly recognisable" because she is a Geordie and bemoaned the fact "poor inoffensive Ruth" was disliked by some of the more hardcore fans because of this.

[32] While The Herald's Anne Simpson said the couple were "the standing stones of Ambridge: rooted, solid, weathered by storms but unbeaten, a reassuring constant in our national life.

"[44] Other listeners thought Ruth and David had undergone personality transplants and accused the BBC of trying to turn The Archers into a radio version of EastEnders.

[45] In February 2007, a writer for the Daily Record reported almost 200,000 listeners had deserted The Archers due to controversial storylines, such as Ruth and Sam's affair.

[46] The writer said figures for the last three months of 2006, when the Ruth and Sam storyline peaked, revealed 4.44 million listeners tuned in, which was down 169,000 on the previous quarter.

[45] The Spectator's Kate Chisholm was delighted that Ruth did not spend the night with Sam and believed that she "kept true to her blunt, honest character (and biblical name).

[47] Ian Sanderson, who runs Archers Anarchists, branded Ruth "ghastly" and "the Geordie gorgon", he also opined that she was "one of Ambridge's most irritating and frumpy residents.

[52] Of the storyline, Finch said "Although all this seemed not a little bizarre for strong-willed, independent Ruth, when I cast my mind back, it wasn't a million miles away from David's (my Archers husband of more than 20 years) reaction to having a female student arrive to work alongside him at Brookfield in 1987.

"[52] On 18 November 2005, Finch and six of her co-stars appeared as their respective characters on the BBC's Children in Need broadcast, alongside presenter Terry Wogan.