Archers star who got hate messages... because he had to back farm tax on the show

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 18:40 EDT, 5 September 2026 | Updated: 18:58 EDT, 5 September 2026 A star of Radio 4's The Archers has revealed he had hate messages after his character opposed farmers' inheritance tax protests.Ben Norris, 34, who plays Ben Archer in the rural soap, said: 'I was getting messages from farming friends or kids in farm families massively laying into me. I was like, 'I'm not him!''But they were like, "How dare you, do you have any idea how much this affects us? My dad used to be a big fan of you".' Norris told of his ordeal this week at The Archers stage show at New Wimbledon Theatre, south London, to mark the soap's 75th anniversary,He said: 'I was the one chosen to be on one side of a balanced argument – my personal views aside.'It was broadcast in April last year after the BBC had been criticised for not writing into scripts how farmers were blocking central London with tractors in protest at Labour inheritance tax plans.It originally threatened to levy a 20 per cent tax on inherited assets over £1million, which farmers said would close smaller farms.Norris's character Ben has an impassioned row with his father David who moans about the 'astronomical' costs of running a farm. Star of Radio 4's The Archers, Ben Norris, has revealed he had hate messages after his character opposed farmers' inheritance tax protestsDavid, played by Timothy Bentinck, says: 'Small and medium-sized family farms all over the country will disappear. It's desperately unfair.'Ben questions this, adding: 'Isn't the whole policy designed to make things more fair, not less?'He argues that farmers have benefited from taxpayer subsidies and would still receive more favourable treatment than ordinary estates under the proposed new rules.The scene ends with the men working out that their farm, Brookfield, would be taxed nearly £1million over ten years under the policy.The scenes were broadcast six months after the first major demonstration by farmers in London. The Countryside Alliance led criticism of the BBC for delaying addressing the issue in The Archers.Following an intense backlash, the Government watered down its tax plans, which will now apply only to agricultural and business assets above a £2.5million threshold.In a Q&A at the stage show, Bentinck, 73, defended the initial omission of the farmers' demos, saying listeners didn't want to hear 'the ghastliness' of real life outside the soap.He said: 'It is very hard for The Archers to do politics. The other thing is you wouldn't want it. The Archers is the place you want to go to and not have to put up with the ghastliness of the reality of news.'