Sexiest - Price Prediction

The invitation to Ambridge – located in a studio high above Birmingham – found me chatting merrily with Charles Collingwood. He was rejoicing over the anniversary of his first broadcast as Brian Aldridge, farmer and smooth talker, wandering husband and understanding patriarch, which took place on 25 March 1975.

He actually goes back a year earlier: “I was a crooked decorator, Dave Escott, who had a flirtation with Peggy. Producer Tony Shryane said, ‘We’ll get you back!’ and three weeks later my wife [Judy Bennett, who played Shula] came home and said, ‘You’re in!’

I felt extremely happy. I watched the first episode, had lunch, and unexpectedly met Jack Holloway, who played Ralph Bellamy. He seemed irritable, complaining, “I’ve just been cut out of the show!” Later in the studio, others remarked, “Indeed, you’ve purchased his farm.” It’s no surprise he wasn’t thrilled to see my presence.

In 1976, Brian got married to Jennifer, becoming the stepfather to her two sons, Toby and Barney. Interestingly enough, I had also taken on Judy’s two boys, coincidentally named Toby and Barney as well. You might find it intriguing to know that Judy’s first husband was a Brian, while my first wife shared the same name with Jennifer. Isn’t it fascinating how life imitates art sometimes?

Collingwood is the jolliest company, and relishes his character’s adventures, which go beyond the tweed-capped practicality of farming. After a couple of years, the new editor, William Smethurst, told him he’d decided to turn Brian into a womaniser. “I suppose because it was me, he spotted a little bit of – er – Leslie Phillips naughtiness” (cue a stagey twinkle). “He wanted a bit of daring humour. Well, it kept me in the show for 50 years.”

Hence Brian’s fling with posh Caroline Bone and flirtation with the flame-haired Pony Club temptress Mandy Beesborough. Another new editor, Vanessa Whitburn, told him, “Women of a certain age always ask me, ‘When will Brian have an affair?'” That became his explosive love affair with Siobhan Donovan, who died young and whose son with Brian, Ruairi, was taken on, heroically, by wife Jennifer. Collingwood loved it. “The joy of continuing drama on the radio is that we play to real time: this affair lasted jolly nearly three years.”

During my most passionate moments with Caroline Lennon, we encountered some difficulties: “At that time, I was still recovering from hip replacement surgery. There I was, in pain from my post-op, wearing reading glasses and trying to remember lines, when someone next to me was making noise with the bed sheets. It was quite demanding.

The remark made an impact, indeed. At Wendy Richard’s 40-year career celebration lunch, she said to him, “Angela Rippon and I think you are the most attractive person in the entertainment industry!” Upon returning home after a couple of glasses of wine, with Judy busy ironing, he proudly recounted the remark. Her response was, “Only in show business! That’s a good marriage.

Brian twinkled on, with more plotlines: criminally charged with polluting the River Am, he had to downshift from the grand farmhouse, while (with unaccountable devotion) letting his woo-woo stepdaughter Kate keep her “spiritual wellness” yurt field.

His scenes with Hollie Chapman, as Brian took his alcoholic daughter Alice to rehab, were genuinely wrenching, all fatherly fear and gentle humility. “I hope so. When Brian turned into a real womaniser I said, ‘Delighted! Yes, there are men like that. But please don’t make him a one-dimensional dirty old man. Make him a good father, see the charm in him. And with scenes like that, or the death of Jennifer, you’re aware that a lot of people are going through it, so it’s important to get it right.”

I do wonder how, after five decades, Collingwood feels about the ever-loosening sexual mores of Ambridge: from Brian’s adulteries to Ruairi’s foray into sex work. “Yes, the world changed. I remember David Blunkett in the 90s first going on about all this, and thinking, ‘Well, we’ve changed and we’re quite successful. Time the Labour Party changed and it might be successful, too.’ Then along came Tony Blair!”

The Siobhan affair did create a long, intense scene – when Brian’s stepdaughter Debbie discovered his betrayal of Jennifer – that Ned Sherrin once said was “like Chekhov”. That scene was special to Collingwood because Debbie’s played by Tamsin Greig, now rarely heard in The Archers (“she’s got so famous Debbie had to move to Hungary”). “We had many scenes together. I find her a remarkable actress and human being.”

Collingwood’s a veteran, worked in rep and shared a study at school with Richard Eyre. He’s especially intrigued by widower Brian’s latest conquest. “I am having a brief encounter with Miranda. Lucy Fleming who plays her is the daughter of Celia Johnson from Brief Encounter – how about that! She sounds like her, too!”

In his personal life in Hampshire, does he socialize with individuals similar to Brian’s real-life counterparts – older gentlemen? “There are many of them. It’s quite naval there, which makes it convenient that I’m related to Admiral Collingwood of Nelson. One well-spoken man asked if I would move down to retire? I replied, ‘No, darling, I’ve been semi-retired since I left RADA!’ I believe it was the first time any man had called him ‘darling.’

2025-03-18 17:23

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