The Archers airs first lesbian wedding in 75-year history
Pip Archer and Stella Pryor are played by Lucy Speed and Daisy Badger. (BBC)
BBC Radio 4’s The Archers has aired its first lesbian wedding in the drama’s 75-year history, with Pip Archer and Stella Pryor marrying in an episode that ended on a stormy cliffhanger.
The ceremony took place during a “horrendous” storm in Sunday’s episode, before the closing moments saw a tree apparently fall on hairdressing student Chelsea Horrobin. Listeners were told they would have to wait until 7pm on Monday to find out what happens next.
Pip, voiced by Daisy Badger, made the show’s queer milestone explicit in her vows, telling Stella: “You excite me, you challenge me, but you ground me too and keep me on the straight and narrow, even though you’re not straight – and turns out nor am I.”
Stella, voiced by Lucy Speed, also nodded to the weather outside as she promised: “Whatever happens, we will weather it and I can promise you that I will do my very best to protect you from the worst of the storms that life throws at us.”
What happened in Pip and Stella’s wedding episode?
The hour opened with Pip getting her hair styled by Chelsea, as the pair joked about having “hair that can withstand a hurricane”, alongside a tribute to Dolly Parton’s famously towering wigs.
Not everyone made it to the ceremony. Eddie Grundy and his wife Clarrie turned back after spotting the roof of their pole barn coming loose in the storm, heading home to check on their turkeys instead.
After Pip and Stella tied the knot, Vince Casey and Chelsea braved the weather to help clear the road. The episode then closed on the cliffhanger, with a tree apparently falling on Chelsea.
Why The Archers’ first lesbian wedding is a big moment
First broadcast in 1951, The Archers is the BBC Radio 4 rural soap set in the fictional village of Ambridge, with storylines that often unfold over years and turn major relationship milestones into national talking points.
The wedding comes two decades after the show’s first gay ceremony, when Adam Macy and Ian Craig entered into a civil partnership in 2006. The couple later married in 2015.
Other long-running soaps have also made history with lesbian weddings, including when EastEnders’ Suki and Eve became the first lesbian couple to wed in Albert Square in a New Year’s Day episode in 2025.
