Archers favourite hit by her own car after parking on hill and taking stroll to look at lake
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Near-death experience: Angela Piper, who plays Jennifer Aldridge, was nearly run over by her hire car
It was almost a tragic case of life imitating art for radio show Archers' actress Angela Piper.
After the fatal rooftop plunge of Nigel Pargetter on the serial, the 71-year-old listeners' favourite came within inches of being run over by her runaway car in a field in France after forgetting to put on the handbrake.
Ms Piper, who plays Jennifer Aldridge, was returning to the airport from the holiday farmhouse near Bordeaux she shares with former BBC announcer Peter Bolgar when she decided to picnic at a pretty lake en route.
Unfortunately the BBC Radio 4 star was not used to the car's manual transmission and instead of applying the handbrake, she left the car in neutral on a slope as she sauntered down to the lake, she told the East Anglian Daily Times.
She said she strolled towards a footbridge when she sensed something behind and, quickly stepping to one side, was startled to see her car sail past her.
She is convinced she had left the handbrake off.
Archers fans still distraught over the untimely death of Pargetter, who was played by actor Graham Seed for 27 years, could have been in for yet more heartbreak had the actress not quickly moved out of the way.
The vehicle only caught her a glancing blow on the arm, bruising her elbow, but the result could easily have been lethal, she said.
'It was so sinister, because it was silent. If I hadn't stepped to one side, I'd have been killed. Without a doubt. It had come some considerable distance and gathered speed.'
Scenic: Ms Piper was returning to the airport from the holiday farmhouse near Bordeaux when she decided to picnic at a pretty lake en route
The car rammed into the footbridge and made a terrible grating sound before finally coming to a stop before the water.
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ShareOnlookers managed to free the car and return it to the road after its rear wheels ended up suspended in mid air as the vehicle had crested a large mound of earth.
The actress says the damage was so bad she drove to the airport in one gear and when she initially told the car rental employee there was damage, recalls that he thought it would be a minor scratch.
Untimely death: Actor Graham Seed played Nigel Pargetter, who died after falling from a roof
But the shocked attendant discovered the huge extent of the damage, with one side of the car completely smashed in and the door could not even be opened.
She described it as: 'The most hideous thing - entirely my fault, but thank God nobody was hurt - a child could have been killed.'
Angela, who plays the long-suffering wife of the adulterous Brian Aldridge, has been in The Archers for 48 years and has recently had success with a series of cookbooks supposedly written by the fictional Jennifer.
She says the huge price of the bill means she will have to write at least another ten books to cover the costs.
Angela, who lives in Halstead, Essex, said she still misses the character of Nigel Pargetter who was killed off to the fury of Archers' fans at New Year, by plunging from the roof of Lower Loxley Hall.
But she says just because she hasn't been killed off yet doesn't mean she feels completely confident in her future with the soap.
She says that writers can strike out a character at any time they like, and they control her character's destiny with a red pen.
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