The Archers favourites star in 75th anniversary photoshoot and talk THAT dramatic George whodunnit reveal

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This article originally appeared in TopMob magazine.

The story starts in 2024 with Alice Carter, who was struggling with alcohol despite coming from a wealthy family, falling asleep while intoxicated in the passenger seat of her car.

Oh my gosh, it was awful! Aunt Alice had a bit too much to drink, and her nephew-in-law, George – a really nice guy, and he had this amazing car – offered to drive her home. But she suddenly woke up disoriented and started flailing around, trying to get out of the car. It made George lose control, and he ended up crashing into another car – with Mick, Joy, and Fallon inside! – sending them both over the bridge and into the River Am. It was a total disaster.

George bravely jumped in to help, but then, in a moment of panic, placed the unconscious Alice behind the wheel. Meanwhile, Fallon unexpectedly suffered a miscarriage, and the emotional fallout from the incident continued to affect everyone for weeks. Alice felt deeply guilty, even though she had no memory of driving the car.

George confessed that he went to prison for eight months after his grandparents, Neil and Susan, reported what he had done.

When he was released, he discovered that most people in Ambridge weren’t willing to forgive him. Without a job and banned from the pub, he angrily confronted everyone on New Year’s Eve. But after talking with Alice, who had become remarkably understanding and forgiving, he decided to move on from the past and try to make amends.

Hollie Chapman, who plays Alice, described a particularly emotional scene where her character shifted from being intoxicated to offering George thoughtful guidance. She said she almost broke down while filming it.

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Angus Stobie, the voice actor for George, noticed a shift in the relationship between his character and Chapman during a photoshoot for RT, which celebrated the soap opera’s 75th anniversary. He believes the characters’ dynamic has changed, especially as part of a dramatic storyline.

I’ve noticed George seems really impressed with Alice, especially with how gracefully she navigated everything. It’s clear he’s been thinking a lot about what matters most – family – and he’s motivated to step up, work hard, and truly contribute to their well-being. He wants to be a provider and give back to the people he loves.

That night, as George walked home to his parents’ house in the darkness, he was attacked. Someone hit him in the head with a wine bottle and left him, believing he was dead.

Fortunately, George got better, and for several weeks, the radio drama featured characters accusing each other of trying to kill him. Suspects included Jolene, his landlady; Fallon, the pub cook, and her boyfriend, who was a police officer; George’s sister, Keira; Alice’s father, Brian; Joy and her boyfriend, Mick; and Amber’s tough father.

Turns out, the surprising culprit was Alice’s half-brother, Ruairi, who secretly wants to run the family farm.

As Brian enters his eighties and battles angina, will he keep up the charade to protect his son? Will Ruairi finally admit the truth? And will George lose his temper once more?

We spoke with the actors playing important characters in Ambridge – including Chapman and Stobie – to get their reactions to a recent surprising reveal and discuss what it might mean for their characters going forward.

There are many possible outcomes to this situation. It might not involve the formal legal system, but rather be handled within the community itself,” Chapman explains.

Charles Collingwood, who plays Brian, was the first to find out about the newest development in Ambridge. She learned about it after him.

“I was let in on the secret about Ruairi before everybody else, and sworn to secrecy,” he explains.

People immediately suspected me, which was ridiculous! Brian was hardly strong enough to lift anything, except when he was drinking. I especially enjoyed the scene where Brian selflessly took the blame for Ruairi, and then the scene focusing on Ruairi himself was fantastic!

Alice is Brian’s favorite, and he clearly loves her very much. However, he also has other daughters and a stepdaughter, and he always wished he had a son. Ruairi is the person he cherishes most.

He explained that in the 1980s, the Aldridge family was almost written off the show because they seemed too perfect – happy and successful with no struggles. However, the writers then introduced a storyline where Brian had an affair with Siobhan, resulting in the birth of Ruairi. He believes challenging situations are ideal for actors, comparing difficult scenes to the subtle nuances of performing while walking through a field of oilseed rape that isn’t quite ready to be harvested.

Arthur Hughes, the voice of Ruairi since 2018, compares keeping the show’s ending a secret to the popular reality TV show The Traitors.

Finding out I was the ‘traitor’ on The Celebrity Traitors was a real thrill – and a secret! They told me in November, right when the show was becoming really popular.

Sunny Ormonde, who plays Ruairi’s step-aunt Lillian Bellamy, wonders if her character would agree to protect him. She thinks it’s possible, explaining that family ties, even distant ones like a step-nephew-in-law, often mean a lot.

Authors

Libby Purves

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2026-02-16 21:14