The Archers star Mrs Antrobus leaves £2m in her will to help actors in need

Margot Boyd, who played Marjorie Antrobus in the Radio 4 serial The Archers for 20 years, left more than £2million in her will.

The veteran actress, who died aged 94 in May, left the bulk of her estate to a charitable trust set up in her name to help actors in poor health or financial hardship.

It will also promote theatrical arts in Bath, where she grew up.

Miss Boyd - who never married and had no children - made her debut in The Archers in 1984 when her character gave a talk to Ambridge’s over-60s club on the ‘colourful world of the Afghan hound’.

The actress made such a success of the part that she was written into the programme as a regular character.

Mrs Antrobus, who bred Afghan hounds, was asked back to open the village fete and give another talk on dogs, which prompted locals to nickname her ‘the dog woman’.

Her character moved to Nightingale Farm in 1988, and to the nursing home, The Laurels, in 2002. She was last heard of in September 2004.

Miss Boyd, the oldest-ever member of the show’s cast, often drew on personal experiences for her role.

She once explained how her father looked after a country estate in Somerset where ‘every other woman was a Mrs Antrobus’.

She also claimed to have been inspired by watching women dog lovers at Crufts.

Miss Boyd, whose real name was Beryl Billings, trained at RADA. She had many stage roles, working with the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, Michael Redgrave, Vivien Leigh, James Stewart and Kenneth More.

Her TV work included guest appearances in shows including Dixon Of Dock Green and Upstairs,  Downstairs.

She died at Denville Hall, the home for retired actors, in Northwood, Middlesex.