Timothy Watson, the actor who plays Rob Titchener in The Archers, has already been subjected to social media attacks by hundreds of fans of the long-running radio soap. Listeners were confused by his convincing portrayal of the abusive husband of Helen, nee Archer. Now, at the start of “trial week” in the fictional town of Ambridge, Watson has been drawn by the court artist who has also sketched several of Britain’s most notorious killers.
Sunday night sees the start of the long-awaited trial in the BBC Radio 4 drama, in which the couple are set to fight over the truth about the knife attack on Rob and over the future of Helen’s son Henry and their new baby Jack (or Gideon, as his father insists on calling him). To mark the occasion, a sketch of Titchener defending his version of events has been drawn by Julia Quenzler, the renowned court artist who covered the Soham trial and the Harold Shipman case.
New Archers trial illustrations by Quenzler are to be published on the programme’s website after several of the episodes airing this week. Quenzler, who has been a court artist for 30 years, drew the images from photographs of the actors and has superimposed them on a panelled courtroom scene. Watson’s character appears in the witness box.
“It’s been fascinating, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it,” Quenzler said. “But of course I haven’t been able to tell anyone I was doing it so I’ve had to refer to it as a secret project. I didn’t want anyone asking me any questions and my face giving anything away.”
The artist has illustrated several real-life domestic violence cases in the past and said she is frequently asked if knowing what someone stands accused of changes the way she portrays them.
“I’m often asked if I make the accused look evil,” said Quenzler. “Generally murderers don’t look like murderers. I can’t presume anyone’s guilt: it’s not for me to do that. I’m not judging the case, I’m going strictly by what I see, and what the jury see. Somebody might look completely benign when they may have been accused of the most awful crimes. They just look like the guy next door.”
In the case of the Titcheners, she knows much more. But, she says: “I can’t let that influence me at all. I was basing his appearance on the actor’s photograph, but also the script. I was reading the script and noting his reactions, the tone of his voice, imagining what he would be doing with his hands while he was in the witness box.”
