I've been on The Archers for 60 years - but nobody knows my name

She is the BBC’s longest-serving actress, a mainstay of The Archers since its pilot episode back in 1950 and still going strong aged 98.

Yet June Spencer is not a household name. The actress has expressed sadness that she remains little known, blaming Radio 4 for its decision not to include the names of the cast at the end of each programme.

Spencer said she is proud of her work, including an episode that had many regular listeners in tears: when she bade farewell to her beloved husband, Jack, after his long decline with Alzheimer’s disease.

Asked if it was nice to have the anonymity that comes with a radio role, the actress replied: “It would be nice to be acknowledged, actually. Particularly when you have an emotional episode, such as Peggy’s goodbye to Jack.

“I worked a lot on the line where Peggy says, ‘Goodbye, my darling.’ And, at the end, they read out who it’s been written by and who the editor is, but there’s no mention of the actress,” she told Radio Times.

When she recorded the first episode 68 years ago, it was “a tuppenny-ha’penny thing, and very badly paid. At the time, we were told that it wasn’t a drama programme, it was ‘real life overheard’. Which is why, of course, the cast list is never read on air.

“We’re anonymous voices. So, although Peggy is well known, the present generations have never heard of June Spencer.”

The BBC said there was a more prosaic reason for the omission: up to two dozen actors can appear in each episode, and there simply is not time to read out all of their names before the next programme begins.

A spokesman said: “We have limited airtime between programmes and adding daily credits for all of the actors would mean reducing the length of each Archers episode, which we’re sure our avid listeners wouldn’t want. A full cast list for all the Ambridge families can be found on the BBC website.”

Spencer is the longest-serving soap actress in the world, and the last remaining member of the original cast. When the programme began as a serial in 1951, she was one of only seven actors who played every part between them. In addition to Peggy Archer (later Woolley), she also played Irishwoman Rita Flynn.

She took a break from the show between 1954 and 1961, with Thelma Rogers taking over the role.

The Alzheimer’s storyline was particularly emotional because Spencer’s own husband, Roger Brocksom, died in 2001 after suffering from dementia for a decade. They had been married for 59 years.

Spencer said younger cast members do not put in the same level of preparation. “I don’t think many of them have had speech training - and, in radio, it’s all about the voice. If you can’t be heard by people with impaired hearing, like me, or those with inferior radios, then what’s the point?

“Also, I work on the scripts and rehearse them as soon as I get them. But I see some of the younger ones marking up their scripts just before the read-through and I think, ‘You haven’t worked on it!’”

Spencer said she hoped to still be working on the show when she turns 100 in June 2019.