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Much-loved Surrey GP and The Archers actor Graham Blockey dies, aged 66

Tributes have been paid to a “kind and considerate” father who appeared on The Archers for 36 years while working as a GP in a Surrey village. Graham Blockey died aged 66 on November 6 after a short battle with cancer and was best known for his role as providing the voice of Robert Snell in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera for 36 years.

He did so while working as a partner at The Leith Hill Practice, in South Holmwood, near Dorking, with the majority of his patients unaware of his radio alter ego. Graham’s wife, Christine, 70, led the tributes and described him as a “lovely man” who was a caring husband and father to his two children Olivia, 38, and Jamie, 35.

“He was a lovely husband and much-loved by his two children,” she said. “We did a lot of things together when the children were young, always going places and doing bike rides, walks and sailing. He was very kind and considerate to other people. 

“We had fantastic holidays together, always looking for the more unusual things to do. We went to India, and trekked in Nepal, he was very much the sort of person who was a motivating factor in our relationship. He was so well known in Dorking, you couldn’t walk through the town without patients coming up to him."

A message on The Archers' Twitter page read: "We're remembering our friend and colleague Graham Blockey following the sad news of his death. Editor Jeremy Howe says 'Graham's Robert Snell was a brilliant creation and a delicious one off. Graham was a complete joy to work with, and we will miss him very much'."

Born in Manchester on April 2 1956, Graham grew up in Glasgow, where he excelled in school plays. After studying medicine at Newcastle University and spending a year as a junior doctor at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, he decided to give acting a go and took a postgraduate course at the Bristol Old Vic.

He made his debut in The Archers in 1986 as Robert Snell who in the show made the move to Ambridge along with his wife Lynda from a southern commuter town. He was already an experienced actor by the time he took the role having been a member of the BBC’s Radio Drama Company and performing a radio play with Dame Judi Dench and her late husband Michael Williams.

With work at The Archers only taking place one week every month he decided to return to hospital work in the late 1980s. He once said of his return to the medical profession: “I was doing things like playing a tomato in pantomime and I started to think, ‘hang on a minute, perhaps medicine is more fulfilling’.”

He trained as GP and became a partner at the Leith Hill practice in 1993 where he held this role alongside his work with the BBC. He organised recording sessions to take place at weekends and did not tell his patients about his dual life to make sure they were not uncomfortable, and any Archers fans did not have their image of Robert ruined.

Graham retired from the practice in 2017 but returned to help out with the vaccination effort in Dorking during the coronavirus pandemic. One patient said of him: “Dr Blockey is an endlessly patient and caring doctor. He is often running late because he spends time with patients and really listens to their problems. He does not dismiss some things as trivial which no doubt they might seem to be.”

As well as his trekking trips in Nepal and Kilimanjaro he also competed in marathons and was an RYA Yachtmaster, the gold standard of competence. Then in 2019 he volunteered with the Vine Trust to join a team of medics caring for remote communities in Lake Victoria.

He is also survived by his granddaughter. 

Reference: Surrey Live: Christy O'Brien