Half a century as Shula: Judy Bennett looks back at her time in The Archers
Judy Bennett is very good at sounding like a boy. So good in fact, she had made a career out of it. She voiced young male characters in Mrs Dale’s Diary and in Waggoners’ Walk and was then employed by 麻豆约拍 Schools Radio after a day of auditioning actual little boys resulted in no casting. After that roles such as David Copperfield, Pip in Great Expectations, Gavroche in Les Miserables kept on coming.
So when Judy was booked to play a part in The Archers she expected to be playing another little boy but, to her surprise, it was as 12-year-old Shula Archer that she joined the cast in 1971. However she wasn’t to completely give up her talent of providing young voices, lending her ability to a number of Ambridge children including the young Adam Macy.
Judy has been a brilliant Shula. Thank you Judy. We shall miss you.Jeremy Howe
51 years later Judy has decided to say farewell to the programme. Her final appearance is on Friday 30 September 2022. “I’ve absolutely loved it and met so many friends”, she says, “But the time has come to leave and I’m feeling happy”.
Judy credits the Editor of The Archers at the time she joined the programme, William Smethurst, with creating Shula with her. The eldest child of Phil and Jill Archer and the twin of Kenton, Shula was a wild child who struggled to settle into a job after school. Judy affectionately labels the young Shula as “the village bike” because “she had more boyfriends and relationships than anyone else”.
With one of these boyfriends she went travelling (only for him to abandon her in Bangkok). Judy recounts that William Smethurst was keen to travel to the Far East to record Shula’s plight and laughs at the memory of pointing out to her boss it couldn’t happen because she was seven months pregnant. “His face fell”, she says.
Royal Baby
While she wasn’t able to be part of William Smethurst’s vision of international recording trips, 1982 brought Judy two significant moments of Archers history. She was in the final scene of the last episode that was broadcast in New Zealand and, closer to home, she performed as Shula live on the day news broke that Princess Diana was in labour with her first child (Prince William).
Two new scenes were written for that evening’s episode of The Archers – one for if the baby had been born and one for if it had not. With recording and editing done on tape at the time it would not have been possible to record and re-edit the programme. Instead the final scene was performed live with William Smethurst confirming which version to go with moments before they went on-air.
Judy remembers standing in the studio alongside Haydn Jones (then playing Joe Grundy) while the episode played out on-air. During the penultimate scene William Smethurst confirmed the birth had not yet happened and Judy and Haydn performed the appropriate new final scene live. “It was very exciting”, she says “I thought “I could say anything and no one could stop me!” But I didn’t – I read the script as directed”.
'Most difficult scene'
In terms of the storylines that Shula has had over her lifetime in Ambridge, the one which stands out most for Judy is the death of Mark Hebden, Shula’s first husband, in 1994. “I remember it very, very vividly”, she says, “There was a scene with Ruth (Felicity Finch), talking about Mark and his death. It’s the most difficult scene I’ve ever had to do”.
Judy adds, “We were never told when a character was going to die. We only knew two days before recording, when the scripts arrived, and that was after 15 years of Richard (Derrington, the actor who played Mark) being in the programme.”
'Ships in the night'
While Judy bids farewell to The Archers she will still maintain a strong link with the programme in her husband, Charles Collingwood, who plays Brian Aldridge. Ironically Shula and Brian have rarely been in the same scenes together. One brief on-air interaction that Judy remembers was when the pair of them danced at a ball. She recounts, “As we went away from the microphone as if Brian and Shula were heading to the dance floor Shula said, “Keep your hands to yourself”!”
Judy says they were “often ships in the night” with their parallel Archers careers with their bookings for recording rarely overlapping. On one occasion Judy remembers waiting to board a train home after recording her latest batch of scenes. She says, “The (train) door opened to let the passengers off and Charles got out on his way to do his scenes as Brian. He gave me an update on our children, we had a quick kiss and then we went our separate ways.”
In her last Archers recording session, Judy was pleased to have one final rare opportunity to act alongside her husband. “I did think it was funny when Brian said to Shula, “I hope you’ll stay in touch”, she chuckles.
When asked if she has any hopes for the future of life in Ambridge now that she is no longer part of it, Judy says, “I want Jill Archer (Patricia Greene) to go on forever. I’ve always thought of her as mum though she’s not nearly old enough to be my actual mum! We won’t be appearing in The Archers together anymore but we talk every week.”
Judy’s absence in The Archers studio will be felt keenly. The Archers Editor Jeremy Howe says Shula’s journey from tearaway to soon to be ordained vicar has been one of the wonders of The Archers, and has been beautifully, cleverly played by Judy Bennett.
He adds, “Judy’s wonderful Shula rarely raises her silken voice, and has always sounded calm and reasonable as she rampaged through the village, travelling from everybody’s nightmare image of a teenager across half a century of broken hearts and marriages to becoming a pillar of the Ambridge community.
“Judy has been a brilliant Shula. Thank you Judy. We shall miss you.”
