Grace Archer Grace Archer Grace Archer (née Fairbrother) (April 2, 1930 – September 22, 1955) is a fictional character from the BBC's long-running radio soap, "The Archers". She was one of the original characters and was played by Monica Gray and then Ysanne Churchman. The episode depicting her death was broadcast by the BBC on the evening of the launch of ITV, so as to distract from it. Grace is the daughter of a wealthy English family. She falls in love with Phil Archer (Norman Painting), the son of a farmer, and they are married in April 1955. A few months later,
The Archers change anything." Vanessa Whitburn was succeeded as editor by Sean O'Connor in September 2013. In September 2016, Huw Kennair-Jones took over as editor though O'Connor continued to oversee the Helen and Rob storyline until its conclusion.. Kennair-Jones announced in October 2017 that he was to leave the BBC to work as commissioning editor for ITV.. The short presence of two successive Archers editors in the job led to concerns that there might be a trend of radio drama editing being seen as “training ground” for higher-paid positions in TV. Alison Hindell, the BBC’s head of Audio Drama until October 2018,