The Archers actress Sara Coward has died of cancer at the age of 69.

Coward had played Caroline Sterling on the much-loved BBC Radio 4 drama since 1977.

Announcing her death, Archers editor Huw Kennair-Jones described her as a "gifted actress with a unique voice".

Coward learned of her terminal cancer last year after finding a lump on her neck and swelling in her right arm.

Speaking to the Radio Times earlier this year from her palliative care home in Leamington Spa, she said: "I would prefer it to be over quickly."

She learned of the diagnosis shortly after recovering from breast cancer and a mastectomy.

As well as her celebrated radio role, Coward was a writer and stage actor.

She also spent eight years working for the Samaritans charity in Stratford-upon-Avon.