Angela Piper is an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal of

Jennifer Aldridge Jennifer Aldridge (also Archer) is a fictional character from the BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers''. The character first appeared in 1951. The role was played by a variety of actresses, until Angela Piper joined the cast in June 1963. Piper ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio drama ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

'', a role she played from 1963 to 2022. Piper appeared in the ITV series ''Life Begins at Forty'' and ''Third Time Lucky'' in the 1980s. From 1963 she voiced Jennifer in ''The Archers'', and she was as of 2022 the third-longest serving current soap star worldwide. Piper had not appeared in the programme for some months before the character died on 22 January 2023, as Piper had decided to retire from the role.

Early and personal life

Piper grew up in

Melbourne, Derbyshire Melbourne () is a market town and civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. It was home to Thomas Cook, founder of Thomas Cook & Son, the eponymous travel agency, and has a street named after him. It is south of Derby and from the River Trent ...

and moved to

Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. Etymology The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another su ...

in her teens. Her father Arthur was an engineering teacher, while her mother Hilda was a member of Derby Poetry Society and ran a local drama group. Piper attended Parkfield Cedars School in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

and then Ashby de la Zouch Girls' School, where she was encouraged to pursue a career in acting. She won a place at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

. Piper is married to Peter Bolgar, a former announcer at the BBC. The couple live on the Suffolk border and have three children.

References

20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century English actresses Actresses from Derbyshire Actresses from Leicestershire Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English radio actresses English soap opera actresses People from Castle Donington People from Melbourne, Derbyshire Actors from North West Leicestershire District {{England-actor-stub