‘We need to make a lot of changes to make this team more competitive.’

Ian Pepperell has died aged 53 (Picture: BBC)

Ian Pepperell has died at aged 53.

The star was best known for his role as Roy Tucker across more than 400 episodes of The Archers, a BBC Radio 4 soap drama running from 2007 to 2023.

He also starred in episodes of EastEnders and appeared in The Bill.

His death comes after a long illness, the BBC said.

Jeremy Howe, editor of The Archers, said: ‘Ian was the perfect Archers actor – he loved being part of an ensemble, relished the camaraderie and gossip of the Green Room, and had a seemingly effortlessly fine tuned vocal technique.

‘Like all the very best radio actors he could think on his feet and change the way he played a scene in the blink of an eye.

‘Thanks to Ian’s brilliance, he created in Roy a character who managed to face in two directions simultaneously in almost every scene he played.

‘He captured Roy as both 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. It all made perfect sense because of Ian’s uncanny and laser-guided ability to find humour in the emotional scenes, and find pathos in the comedy that he always played so unerringly well.

‘Ian had a lot more gas in the tank and was desperate to return to Ambridge once his health permitted. It is tragic that he died in his prime, we will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family and friends and everyone who knew him. Ambridge loved Roy – The Archers and our millions of listeners loved Ian’s Roy Tucker.’

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