A star of Radio 4’s The Archers has revealed he received hate mail after his character opposed farmers’ inheritance tax protests.
Ben Norris, 34, who plays Ben Archer in the national soap, said: ‘I started getting messages from farming friends or children in farming families attacking me en masse. I thought, ‘I’m not him!’
‘But they said, “How dare you, do you have any idea how much this affects us? My dad used to be a big fan of yours.”
Norris told of his ordeal this week during The Archers show at the New Wimbledon Theatre, South London, to mark the soap’s 75th anniversary:
He said: ‘I was the one chosen to be on one side of a balanced argument – my personal views aside.’
It was broadcast in April last year after the BBC was criticized for failing to script how farmers blocked central London with tractors in protest against Labour’s inheritance tax plans.
The country originally threatened to impose a 20 percent tax on inherited assets over £1 million, which farmers say would close down smaller farms.
Norris’ character Ben has a passionate argument with his father David, who complains about the “astronomical” costs of running a farm.
Ben Norris, star of Radio 4’s The Archers, has revealed he received hate mail after his character opposed farmers’ inheritance tax protests
David, played by Timothy Bentinck, says: ‘Small and medium-sized family farms will disappear all over the country. It’s desperately unfair.’
Ben questions this, adding, “Isn’t the whole policy designed to make things fairer, not less?”
He argues that farmers have benefited from taxpayer subsidies and would still receive more favorable treatment than regular estates under the proposed new rules.
The scene ends with the men reflecting that their farm, Brookfield, would be taxed almost £1 million over a ten-year period under the policy.
The scenes were broadcast six months after the first major farmers’ demonstration in London. The Countryside Alliance led criticism of the BBC for delaying consideration of the issue in The Archers.
After an intense backlash, the government has watered down its tax plans, which will now only apply to agricultural and business assets above a £2.5 million threshold.
In a question-and-answer session during the show, Bentinck, 73, defended the initial omission of the farming demos, saying listeners did not want to hear “the horror” of real life outside the soap.
He said: ‘It’s very difficult for The Archers to do politics. The other thing is that you wouldn’t want it. The Archers is the place you want to go and not have to endure the horrifying reality of the news.”
