Jennifer Aldridge and John Tregorran – an affair of the mind?

Why is Jennifer so keen to make a contribution to John Tregorran’s funeral? This episode from their past may give you a clue...

Jennifer Aldridge shared an interest in local history with John Tregorran. In November 1979, they both attended a six week evening course on Historical Surveying at Borchester Tech.

With so much in common, it soon became the subject of gossip that the two were seeing a lot of each other. John’s wife Carol got a bit snippy with Jennifer, and gently suggested to John that he was behaving foolishly, trying to capture his lost youth.

But it was Jennifer’s husband Brian who eventually put his foot down. In April 1980, Brian told Jennifer it was time he gave her more support, and that she spent less time with John.

Jennifer was very upset, and John sensed a difference in her attitude towards him thereafter. She turned down his overtures (which were wrapped up in the form of a story). When he failed to turn up for an historical survey walk and Jennifer enquired as to his whereabouts, she was informed by Carol that he was to take over the organisation of a series of antique fairs in America. Carol and the children were to join him in the holidays.

John returned to the UK in February 1981, picking up once again on his historical landscape survey work with Jennifer. At first she was disturbed by his formal attitude towards her. But once they got together to read the proofs of the book (Ambridge - An English Village Through the Ages), they got on very well.

Brian became edgy about the renewed friendship and the ongoing gossip. The two couples still dined together but there were rows and the atmosphere was fraught.

The rumours never really went away. Even when John helped Jennifer in innocence to choose a painting for Brian in 1985, everyone thought they were starting (or restarting) an affair.

Keri Davies is an Archers scriptwriter and web producer.

Learn about Jennifer Aldridge, Carol Tregorran, Brian Aldridge – and the actors who play them – in our Who’s Who.

Read the full story of Carol and John Tregorran’s time in Ambridge