Archers matriarch is paid just £16,000

AFTER starring in The Archers for 60 years, Patricia Greene has earned the respect of her colleagues and the love of countless fans of the Radio 4 drama.

But it seems the 86-year- old hasn’t earned much else for playing Jill Archer.

Listeners were horrified when the woman known as ‘the nation’s grandmother’ revealed she only gets £16,000 a year – a fraction of the amounts paid to other BBC stars.

She said: ‘I think I got £16,000 last year from the Beeb. That’s what we get. We don’t talk money much, we talk con- tent.’ Fans said it was ‘ shocking’ and ‘mean’ that other stars were paid 143 times as much. One tweeted: ‘Jill Archer only gets £16,000 a year!!! Disgusting. Get your act together.’

Speaking after the BBC announced the salaries of the 96 presenters and actors who earn more than £150,000, including Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans on up to £2.25million, Miss Greene said: ‘It’s obscene.

‘You don’t earn that kind of money sitting at a microphone, do you? It’s just ridiculous.’ Referring to Evans, she told The Daily Telegraph: ‘He’s probably a very nice chap and he’s very clever... but I don’t think £2million is a good fee for somebody on the radio.’

Miss Greene said such huge salaries contrasted starkly with cuts to The Archers, adding: ‘It always makes me laugh that we can only now have six characters per episode because of money – sometimes five, sometimes seven. It’s ridiculous.’

The BBC said it couldn’t say how many hours Miss Greene worked each month because it depended on storylines, but as a key character she would normally appear every week.