A gentleman and a player

The actor on making an Archers villain loveable and being cast as a ‘slightly dodgy toff’

- Michael Billington

THE intention was to make him a capitalist bully-boy —which is what I mostly play these days,’ says actor Simon Williams of Justin Elliott, whom he has been playing, with great success, in The Archers since 2014.

Anyone less like the character would be hard to imagine. It’s true Mr Williams lives in a comfortable farmhouse on the large Nettlebed estate in south Oxfordshire, which his wife, the actress Lucy Fleming, co-owns with her sister, Kate, but he’s self-deprecating about his career, involved with numerous charities and exudes affability and charm. ‘In the life/work balance,’ he admits, ‘I’ve always erred on the side of life.’ That may be true, but The Archers is a crucial strand in his existence. ‘It’s a great job, because, being radio, you don’t have to shave, pull your stomach in or learn the lines,’ he points out. ‘It also has a nice rhythm to it. We record four a day for seven days once a month and I’m able to commute up the M40 to Birmingham listening to audio-books in my car.

‘When I joined, there had just been a domestic-abuse scandal and they were looking for a new villain. As the boss of a private-equity company and a property developer, my character was an obvious fall guy, but I try to play Justin as sweetly, gently and inoffensively as possible. As an actor, you’re always fighting to make unloveable characters more human, but, now that Jeremy Howe has taken over as editor, I suspect a more ruthless, steely side will start to emerge.’