Nelson Gabriel
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Nelson Gabriel | |||||||||
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The Archers character | |||||||||
Portrayed by | Jack May | ||||||||
First appearance | 1952 | ||||||||
Last appearance | 1997 | ||||||||
Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||
Profile | |||||||||
Occupation | Wine bar owner Antiques dealer | ||||||||
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Nelson Gabriel is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. He was portrayed by Jack May.[1]
Casting[]
May was approached by producer Tony Shryane to join The Archers as Nelson in 1952.[2] May remained with the show until January 1997, when he was forced to leave due to his declining health.[2] He died later that year.[2]
Storylines[]
The son of Walter Gabriel (Chris Gittins), the village carrier and self-appointed "character", Nelson was for many years the most disreputable character in the village.[3] He was charged with the Borchester mail-van robbery in 1967, but was eventually acquitted. After spells in London and Spain, in the 1980s he ran a wine bar and later an antique shop with Kenton Archer. Finally he disappeared to South America, where he died in strange circumstances.
Reception[]
Listeners voted Nelson the "greatest rogue" in Archers history,[3] while a writer for SOAP magazine named him one of the "10 Great Archers Characters".[4] They said "Son of the late, lamented Walter Gabriel whose eloquence and erudition cloak a shady past involving criminal activity and a suspicious absence of any love interest anywhere along the way, though he mysteriously acquired a daughter somewhere down the line."[4]
References[]
- ^ "The Archers : the official companion" Smethurst,W: London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985 ISBN 0-297-78715-2
- ^ a b c Hayward, Anthony (20 September 1997). "Obituary: Jack May". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- ^ a b "Nelson Gabriel - Confidante or Con man?". The Archers. BBC. Archived from the original on 1 January 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
- ^ a b "10 Great Archers characters". SOAP. 1 (1): 15. 1994.
External links[]
- Character profile at the BBC
- The Archers characters
- Fictional bartenders
- Fictional con artists
- Fictional British people
- Male characters in radio
- Radio characters introduced in 1952
- BBC Radio stubs
- British radio people stubs
- Soap opera character stubs