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Jill Archer
Jill Archer (née Patterson) is a fictional character from the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. She has been portrayed by Patricia Greene since 1957. Writers for the show paired Jill with Phil Archer (Norman Painting), their marriage lasting until Phil's death in 2010. Greene is the world's longest-serving actor in a soap opera, in any medium. In 2018, Jill was featured in 37 of the show's almost 300 episodes for the year and continues to play a prominent role in the show.
Jill's storylines often revolve around the core Archer's family. The official BBC calls the character a "loving but controlling matriarch" who "rules the roost at Brookfield" and a "tough and determined mother". In her 68 years in the role, Jill has endured the loss of her husband, raising several children, campaigning for local issues, being arrested for throwing a flapjack during a protest and fighting plans to sell Brookfield.
The Archers editor, Huw Kennair-Jones, has described Jill as a "lynchpin" and said there would "always be stories" for her in the programme. The Daily Telegraph has called Jill a "legend to millions of listeners".
When Greene joined the cast of The Archers in 1957, she was hired for six weeks playing Jill Patterson. The character was written to catch the eye of local farmer Phil Archer, a widower who lost his wife Grace in a barn fire in 1955; the BBC famously killed off the character to distract from the launch of the ITV television network, the first television competitor to the radio station. Greene recalls the call sheet describing Jill as a "sexy blonde", so she "vamped it up" and did an imitation of actress Fenella Fielding. "Unfortunately, I got the job", Greene joked in an interview with Radio Times. In an interview with the BBC upon her 60th anniversary with the show, Greene says she was told the character was a “sexy, blonde in a tea tent”. Greene's first words as Jill, which appeared in the same episode, were, “and now I’ll show you the fifteenth use to which this very versatile little household gadget can be put…”
The producers enjoyed the chemistry between Painting and Greene, and extended her contract upon Jill's final episode. The editor Godfrey Baseley told Greene: "Congratulations! Forget the sex; you're going to marry him!" In 2017, Greene was paid £16,000 for her work on the show.
In the 1980s, BBC management considered killing off large numbers of characters, or even cancelling the show altogether. Greene recalls she was one of those in "jeopardy": "Norman Painting was writing scripts. And he used to come back from story conferences and say ‘Jill and Phil are off. We’re going to farm in Guernsey.’ And I thought: ‘Great! I can get back to theatre work.’ But we survived." On another occasion, bosses reprimanded the actress for using profanities and acting out sex scenes in theatre productions. "The BBC top brass called me in and said: ‘We hear you’re going to say the f-word and do sex scenes. Why?’ Well, because I'm an actress.”
Greene told the Radio Times she cannot imagine playing the role into her late 90s, like co-star June Spencer. She is driven to and from home on each recording day. “I’m not going to tell you, but I am 86. And I should miss it terribly. I don’t usually get emotional about storylines but I’m a bit emotional doing this one I’m doing now.” Greene says she knows the character better than anyone else, and says "left to her own devices" she is a "businesswoman or some sort". "I know her better than anybody in the world," she says. “If she (Jill) goes into the pub she has a sherry and it’s not a sweet sherry, Peggy may have a sweet sherry, but Jill certainly has a dry sherry.”
As part of her 60th anniversary, the show featured a comical storyline in which Jill is arrested for throwing a flapjack at a restaurant owner in protest over food waste.
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Jill Archer
Jill Archer (née Patterson) is a fictional character from the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. She has been portrayed by Patricia Greene since 1957. Writers for the show paired Jill with Phil Archer (Norman Painting), their marriage lasting until Phil's death in 2010. Greene is the world's longest-serving actor in a soap opera, in any medium. In 2018, Jill was featured in 37 of the show's almost 300 episodes for the year and continues to play a prominent role in the show.
Jill's storylines often revolve around the core Archer's family. The official BBC calls the character a "loving but controlling matriarch" who "rules the roost at Brookfield" and a "tough and determined mother". In her 68 years in the role, Jill has endured the loss of her husband, raising several children, campaigning for local issues, being arrested for throwing a flapjack during a protest and fighting plans to sell Brookfield.
The Archers editor, Huw Kennair-Jones, has described Jill as a "lynchpin" and said there would "always be stories" for her in the programme. The Daily Telegraph has called Jill a "legend to millions of listeners".
When Greene joined the cast of The Archers in 1957, she was hired for six weeks playing Jill Patterson. The character was written to catch the eye of local farmer Phil Archer, a widower who lost his wife Grace in a barn fire in 1955; the BBC famously killed off the character to distract from the launch of the ITV television network, the first television competitor to the radio station. Greene recalls the call sheet describing Jill as a "sexy blonde", so she "vamped it up" and did an imitation of actress Fenella Fielding. "Unfortunately, I got the job", Greene joked in an interview with Radio Times. In an interview with the BBC upon her 60th anniversary with the show, Greene says she was told the character was a “sexy, blonde in a tea tent”. Greene's first words as Jill, which appeared in the same episode, were, “and now I’ll show you the fifteenth use to which this very versatile little household gadget can be put…”
The producers enjoyed the chemistry between Painting and Greene, and extended her contract upon Jill's final episode. The editor Godfrey Baseley told Greene: "Congratulations! Forget the sex; you're going to marry him!" In 2017, Greene was paid £16,000 for her work on the show.
In the 1980s, BBC management considered killing off large numbers of characters, or even cancelling the show altogether. Greene recalls she was one of those in "jeopardy": "Norman Painting was writing scripts. And he used to come back from story conferences and say ‘Jill and Phil are off. We’re going to farm in Guernsey.’ And I thought: ‘Great! I can get back to theatre work.’ But we survived." On another occasion, bosses reprimanded the actress for using profanities and acting out sex scenes in theatre productions. "The BBC top brass called me in and said: ‘We hear you’re going to say the f-word and do sex scenes. Why?’ Well, because I'm an actress.”
Greene told the Radio Times she cannot imagine playing the role into her late 90s, like co-star June Spencer. She is driven to and from home on each recording day. “I’m not going to tell you, but I am 86. And I should miss it terribly. I don’t usually get emotional about storylines but I’m a bit emotional doing this one I’m doing now.” Greene says she knows the character better than anyone else, and says "left to her own devices" she is a "businesswoman or some sort". "I know her better than anybody in the world," she says. “If she (Jill) goes into the pub she has a sherry and it’s not a sweet sherry, Peggy may have a sweet sherry, but Jill certainly has a dry sherry.”
As part of her 60th anniversary, the show featured a comical storyline in which Jill is arrested for throwing a flapjack at a restaurant owner in protest over food waste.