Alan Devereux dead: Actor who played Sid Perks on the Archers for nearly 50 years dies

Alan Devereux, who appeared as Sid Perks on the BBC drama The Archers for nearly 50 years, has died, the BBC reports.

Mr Devereux made his first appeared as a teenager on the BBC Radio 4 soap opera in 1963 and continued to play the role until his character's death in 2010.

Sean O'Connor, the editor of The Archers', paid tribute to Mr Devereux in a blogpost for the radio drama's website.

He said: "Alan’s voice as Sid had a genuine sense of authenticity to it - instantly recognisable and full of rich character.

"He arrived in the village just as the sixties took off and when Archers writer Edward J. Mason observed that the programme should reflect the real world ‘that does include vulgarity, that does include sex, that does include strong language and that does include violence…a world in which values are constantly changing, in which the youth culture is dominating and in which cosiness plays no part.’

"Sid – and his wife Polly- were very much part of this agenda for the programme to keep up with the rapid social changes of the times."

He said Mr Devereux was a "wonderful member of The Archers' family in Birmingham and will be deeply missed".

Former editor, Vanessa Whitburn said: "Alan was a consummate and brilliant radio actor. Always a delight to work with, his versatility as publican Sid Perks meant that he created superb partnerships with the actresses who played all three of his wives.

"A modest man, I don't think he knew just how talented he was."

Buffy Davis, who played Sid's third wife Jolene, said: “Alan was a one off, there was no one like him.

"He possessed a wicked sense of humour and was uniquely talented, I loved him. Standing next to him on the mic was a lesson in radio performance.

"He was completely dedicated to The Archers - and once that green light was on - he was Sid Perks.”

Mr Devereux's character was best known for running the local pub, The Bull, for decades and his character was announced to have mysteriously died off scene while jogging in New Zealand.

A spokeswoman for The Archers at the time said Mr Devereux had "decided to retire" from the show but did not elaborate.

Fans speculated that Mr Devereux had fallen out with the producers of the show as long-standing characters were rarely killed "off mic" and it was normally a scene that they were either too ill to perform or producers wanted to slight them by not giving them a good exit.