Ian Pepperell, best known for playing Roy Tucker in The Archers, has died at the age of 53, the BBC said.
The actor, who played the hotelier in the long-running BBC Radio 4 drama for 22 years, died on Friday following a long illness.
The thespian was described by the editor of the programme Jeremy Howe as ‘the perfect Archers actor’ who was able to play comedy and emotion equally well.
During his career, he also acted in numerous stage productions and appeared in BBC soap opera EastEnders for a short stint.
In addition to his acting career Pepperell ran a pub called The Star Inn in the town of Ringwood on the edge of the New Forest with his wife Nikki for the last two years.
Actor Ian Pepperell (pictured), who played Roy Tucker in The Archers, has died at the age of 53 following a long illness
Pepperell (pictured) was described as ‘the perfect Archers actor’ by the programmes editor Jeremy Howe
In a heartfelt tribute posted on its Facebook page on Friday, she wrote: ‘It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must tell you all, that Ian – left this world today – in peace, his way. As I, and all of the closest to him knew he would.
‘”To die, To sleep, To sleep, perchance to dream, ay, there’s the rub”.’
Following the news of his death Mr Howe, who oversaw the actor’s time on The Archers said he was among the ‘very best radio actors’.
He said: ‘Ian was the perfect Archers actor – he loved being part of an ensemble, relished the camaraderie and gossip of the Green Room, and had a seemingly effortlessly fine tuned vocal technique.
‘Like all the very best radio actors he could think on his feet and change the way he played a scene in the blink of an eye.
‘Thanks to Ian’s brilliance, he created in Roy a character who managed to face in two directions simultaneously in almost every scene he played.
‘He captured Roy as both genial and anxious, funny and sad, easy-going and permanently stressed – a man who could hold down with ease a top job, yet who always carried with him Hamlet’s sense of failure.
‘It all made perfect sense because of Ian’s uncanny and laser-guided ability to find humour in the emotional scenes, and find pathos in the comedy that he always played so unerringly well.
‘Ian had a lot more gas in the tank and was desperate to return to Ambridge once his health permitted. It is tragic that he died in his prime, we will miss him dearly and our hearts go out to his family and friends and everyone who knew him. Ambridge loved Roy – The Archers and our millions of listeners loved Ian’s Roy Tucker.’
In recent years Pepperell (pictured) had run a pub on the edge of the New Forest with his wife Nikki
His former boss described him as being among the ‘very best radio actors’ with his ability behind the microphone
Pepperell, who was born in Oxford in 1970, first appeared on television in 1993 where he appeared in five episodes of EastEnders.
This was followed by appearances in The Bill, Pie in the Sky and Get Real.
He was cast as Roy Tucker in The archers in 2007 and went on to appear in more than 400 episodes of the radio soap before his passing.