June Spencer, who played matriarch Peggy in BBC Radio 4’s long-running drama The Archers from 1951 until her retirement in 2022, has died at the age of 105.

A statement said she died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Friday.

“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,” it said.

Her character Peggy Woolley (formerly Archer) was often viewed as a traditionalist, conservative character in the long-running drama charting the ups and downs of life in fictional Ambridge.

Speaking as the show’s only original cast member in 2019, she said: “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,” she said.

Three years later, when she did decide it was time to leave the show, 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”.

The present Queen 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, marking the show’s 70th anniversary.

She called Peggy “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.