by Samuel Montgomery, Telegraph
A former Archbishop of Canterbury contacted the BBC to complain after a vicar married a Hindu in The Archers, it has been claimed.
The Rev Alan Franks, vicar of St Stephen’s Church in the fictional village of Ambridge, married Usha Gupta, a Hindu lawyer, during the summer of 2008.
Actor John Telfer, who plays the reverend in the BBC Radio 4 show, has now claimed that the storyline provoked a complaint from the office of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time.
Asked whether the storyline had prompted any negative reactions, Telfer told BBC Radio 4 Sunday: “I have had no negative personal reactions from the audience.
“There was, interestingly enough, I think the team were contacted by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office to say: ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? A Church of England vicar marrying a Hindu?’
“The team were able to say: ‘Well, actually, we researched it and it is based on one of your vicars in the south west of England who is married to a Hindu.’”
The identity of the real-life vicar was not disclosed. However, a Church of England vicar called Derek Barnes married Rohini, a committed Hindu, in 1980.
In 1998, it was reported that the pair lived in Southall, west London, and had two children.
The vicar, who would now be in his 80s, met Rohini when he was working as a director of an overseas student hostel in West London.
“Soon after we met, some of my colleagues started to put pressure on me, and said that they’d be happier if she converted,” he told The Independent in 1998.