Dr Charlotte Martin Answers Your Questions — Susan's Radio Show, Bert's Secrets & Would She Be Friends with Susan?

All About The Archers

Dr. Charlotte Martin joins host Philippa to answer a variety of fan questions regarding her long-running role as Susan Carter in The Archers

Key takeaways

Charlotte Martin enjoys reading, listening to music, and regular exercise in her spare time.
The actress expressed a strong desire for Susan Carter to return to her role as a radio presenter in Ambridge.
The prison storyline involving George was a pivotal moment that highlighted Susan's empathy and personal history.
Charlotte notes that she likely would not be close friends with Susan in real life due to the character's tendency to pry into personal business.
The distinct accents for characters like Susan and Tracy are a deliberate production choice to help listeners differentiate between them.

Main topics

Character analysis of Susan Carter
The Archers storylines and history
Acting techniques and accents

Notable quotes

Susan as a WhatsApp group with a tabard.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and insightful deep dive for fans of The Archers, offering

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:15) We're all about the archers. I'm Philippa and I am back with the wonderful Dr. Charlotte Martin, who of course plays Susan Carter, to answer your questions. Charlotte, welcome back. Speaker 2 (0:25) Hello. Hi, Philippa. How are you doing? Speaker 1 (0:27) Oh, I am great, but I don't know how you're going to be because you've got 16 questions and we've got 20 minutes. So bring them on. OK. The first one is from Jane. What does Charlotte enjoy doing in her spare time? I've been an avid Archers fan for 52 years. I love Susan's character. Speaker 2 (0:45) Oh, that's very sweet of her to say so. Okay, so gosh, I love reading. I'm an avid reader. Really, really love that. Listening to music, definitely. And then my major love is exercise. So I go to the gym a lot and run. Yeah, Speaker 1 (1:02) fantastic. The next is from Sandra. It's not a question, but I thought I had to include it. Sandra says, I love the Archers. Now I live in Australia. It's my little piece of England. Thank you. Susan, you do a fabulous job in the shop. Speaker 2 (1:17) Oh, how Speaker 1 (1:17) lovely of you. Okay. Speaker 1 (1:21) So next is from Robert, who asked this. Will Susan ever go back to presenting on the local radio in Ambridge? Thank you so much for making my day whenever I hear you performing on The Archers. And that's from Robert in Dallas. Speaker 2 (1:36) Well, Robert, yes, absolutely. I really, really want Susan to get her radio show back. We were talking earlier about this, and I think it would be a marvellous move for her. And I think she'd be in her element. Speaker 1 (1:48) Yeah, I'd love it too. The next question is from Andrew, who says, do you miss the pairing with Clary from when you both worked in the dairy together under horrible Helen? I found their friendship heartwarming and really interesting. P.S. I love hearing you as Susan. Speaker 2 (2:04) Again, thank you so much. Yeah, we both, Heather, who plays Clary and I, really miss working together a lot. Those scenes in the dairy, we used to have such fun doing them Speaker 1 (2:15) and such a laugh. Speaker 2 (2:16) And it was an amazing move by Helen, wasn't it, to get rid of Clary? We couldn't quite believe that she'd done it, but we miss those scenes very much. Speaker 1 (2:28) I mean, Helen, I love Helen because she drives me bonkers on a regular basis. But yeah, that was a whole new level of her management skills. It Speaker 2 (2:37) really was, wasn't it? It really was. Speaker 1 (2:40) The next question is from Heidi. Susan has a wonderful ability to be completely convinced she's right, even when everyone around her might disagree. When you're playing her, are you ever secretly on Susan's side? Speaker 2 (2:54) Oh, gosh, quite often, actually. Quite often. I think you think Susan is very often right. And it may not come across as immediately that she's right. But actually, in the long term, I think you see that actually. the things that she says are important and valid. Speaker 1 (3:13) And I think it's as we discussed in the previous episode, I think Susan has matured. So maybe 15 years ago, you could say maybe some of the decisions she made weren't perhaps always the best ones. Whereas now, I don't know of a bad decision she's made. Speaker 2 (3:30) No, no, no. And, you know, as we were discussing earlier, you know, in previous chats, Susan's life experiences have probably taught her an awful lot. So she has got a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience of situations that she's now being able to talk about, you know, in a more removed manner in order to help people who are struggling. You know, things like, you know, obviously talking with George and Amber. in separate situations. But I think that's really coming to its full now in terms of who Susan is. So more of that, please. Speaker 1 (4:09) I suppose the scene when she wanted George to have some experience working in the shop again once he was out of prison, even though we were pulling our hair out because we could sense that Susan might lose her job over it, we could understand why in her heart she was trying to do it. Speaker 2 (4:26) Oh, absolutely. I mean, gosh, of all people in the village, she knew very, very well that when you come out of prison and you've got that shame of having been in prison, you know, the automatic response is probably to hide away and not see anyone and not talk to anyone. And I think she knew that actually for George, he had to do that. And I think that was one of her ways of trying to encourage him to get back into the village, into the village life. And to be able to cope with perhaps people looking at him or saying things which would be upsetting, but to get through that. And of course, she knows that firsthand. I Speaker 1 (5:07) could talk to you for hours. Sorry, I should get