Nelson Gabriel

Nelson Gabriel is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. He was portrayed by Jack May.[1]

Nelson Gabriel
The Archers character
Portrayed byJack May
First appearance1952
Last appearance1997
ClassificationFormer, regular
Profile
OccupationWine bar owner
Antiques dealer

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]

gollark: I *do* have backdoor access to your computer so meh.
gollark: Why not?
gollark: I'm not submitting until I extensively analyse them and see what lyricly guesses so I can guess the opposite.
gollark: That seems early.
gollark: <@319753218592866315> make macron.

References
  1. "The Archers : the official companion" Smethurst,W: London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985 ISBN 0-297-78715-2
  2. Hayward, Anthony (20 September 1997). "Obituary: Jack May". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  3. "Nelson Gabriel - Confidante or Con man?". The Archers. BBC. Archived from the original on 1 January 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  4. "10 Great Archers characters". SOAP. 1 (1): 15. 1994.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.