Neil Carter | |||||||||||||||
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The Archers character | |||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Brian Hewlett | ||||||||||||||
Duration | 1973–present | ||||||||||||||
First appearance | February 1973 | ||||||||||||||
Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||
Created by | Tony Shryane | ||||||||||||||
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Neil Carter is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera, The Archers. The character was introduced in February 1973 by producer Tony Shryane[1] and has gone from a naïve teenager to a pillar of the local community. He has remained on the show for 51 years, making Hewlett one of the longest-serving soap opera actors in the world.
Neil is the husband of Susan Carter, and father to Emma Grundy and Christopher Carter. He is also the grandfather of George and Keira Grundy and Martha Carter. He has been involved in many storylines, mainly centred around his job as a pig farmer and his family, including being elected to the parish council and the imprisonment of his wife Susan in 1993 for harbouring her criminal brother, Clive.
Hewlett says the character has many "laudable qualities which make him a decent person to know" while the official Archers website describes him as "down-to-earth" and "unpretentious".[1]